As the two stood there, the rain continuing to fall, the trees danced in the wind, a cumbersome dance nonetheless. Darius stood, arms hanging loosely at his sides, right next to Anastasia as she was looking down with her fist clenched. His gaze was straight upon a little wooden bridge, aged by time and weather, extended over a small stream, its water smoothly trickling down the hilly woods as the storm raged above the trees. Darius turned to face her, her head still hung low.
“Why do I feel this?”
“That… Well, who knows. You know what I mean though.”
“Yes.. I do.” Darius had only one thought looming but couldn’t steer it through his teeth. He was totally aware of what Anastasia was not telling him. He felt the silver bracelet with his other hand.
Ever since staring into that sundial that burning sensation no longer caused him the same pain. That tingling in his hands hung around with him softly, almost unnoticeable.
“That, Sundial.” He asked hesitantly, “What was it?” He continued after a short pause.
“The Sundial?” Anastasia replied, now lifting her head to look at him.
“You asked what I saw?”
“Well, you’re not gonna believe this but wanna know what I think?” Darius held on without a change in expression or bodily language, a blank look on his face. “I think, that when I said I was The Gatekeeper, I think I lied.”
Darius's face changed to one of annoyance. “Okay. So what are you saying?” He uttered impatiently. “Well. You see I said I’d never been to Dial. Then I told you I HAD been, didn’t I?”
Darius didn’t really care he just wanted her to get to the point. “So what do you know?” Darius chirped “Why do I know that I have to kill this man?” He finally busted out, anger in his voice.
“Okay, okay, you got me! Calm down, kiddo.”
Getting nowhere thus far Darius’s frustration seemed emulated by the rain as louder cracks of thunder bellowed through the sky. Anastasia sneezed, quite high in pitch but lasting only a moment. After her eyes were finished scrunching she looked quite surprised.
“Bless you” Darius said reluctantly, some pity ran through him for her.
“I do know a tad bit more than I’m letting on.” She began, coughing for a small while after then clearing her throat. “You see, the gift you have, it’s not your own. You are a mortal man, in here, they are not. That man you have to kill, he is an Hour. These people have this gift you have. They have lived forever. Or so they say at least…” At the end of that sentence she looked down again.”
“He’s been missing. Missing here doesn’t mean he’s lost somewhere. It means he’s nowhere, you following? So that is why you found me where you did, which happens not to be anywhere.”
Halfway through she went from sounding sad to quite merry, finishing with a small giggle.
“I thought you was him.” She continued “I only seen those eyes one other time, and that I know for certain. I know what you are though.”
“What I am?” Darius asked. Feeling quite offended.
“You’re different. Some how. You’re not from here.”
“So where am I from”
“ I can’t tell you who you are but I can tell you what you are. You’re a mortal man. I myself, ain’t never seen one but you’re from far away. Some place in Space. Here is neither space nor time. It’s just called Dial.Your Henki was brought here as a harbinger from ‘Those who know’. They sent you here to fix the Hours. That circle on your Henki. That’s their gift. It will give you the ability to fulfil what you know you must do. Kill the Eleventh Hour. He looks just like you. I mean exactly. That will guide you home and this will just be a dream to you. I think.”
Drinking in all she said, Darius eyes started to close.
“That’s rude, y’know sleeping while someone’s talking to you!” Anastasia yelled at him but he was none the wiser. In what felt like a dream he was atop of a building. He was having an outer body experience. Seeing himself standing in front of what looked like himself. This other Darius was wearing a suit of dark grey armour. The shoulders where large and smooth. Trimmed with white pinstripes along the shoulder pads and the top half of the torso. A helmet lay on the floor in the distance. Broken. It had an outward hinged visor that cover the face. Half of that was broken off but the bit that remained was marked with roman numerals covering where the eyes would be. A small eye hole sat between the numbers. It was raining and thunder and lightning filled the air. This other self laughed and in a deeper but familiar voice, not too unlike his own said “Harbinger.” Darius abruptly woke up.
Anastasia was staring into his face, noses almost touching, her face holding a confused expression. Darius yelled out, shocked and uncomfortable at the proximity of her face. “What are you doing?” He called out, his words rushing by. In his shock he stumbled over into the dirty forest road, wet from the dripping rain falling through the trees. “What, what were you doing?”
“You fell asleep, so erm, I was looking at you. Do all mortals sleep standing up?”
“I don’t know, I don’t think so” Darius felt that it would be uncomfortable. “I saw something.” He put his hand to his head feeling a little light headed. "What do you mean by 'Harbinger'?”
“Relax, will you” She said lazily “Brighten up, it’s dull enough here without that attitude”
“I’m sure you already said that”
“All you gotta, do is kill the Eleventh. You’ll wake up tomorrow having not known a thing. You’ll restore harmony to the passage of time. No sweat.”
Darius felt a little mystified “How will I do these things?”
“I told you, you have a gift. Only you can slay him. I know that!”
“So who are you, Anastasia?”
“I’m just what remains. Parts of people get lost on the passage to Dial, Those lost parts sometimes create images here. I exist here but I never really existed at all. I think, I mean I feel real right? They tell us we’re not.”
“Who?”
“The Hours of course, stupid Clockface. To harbour the dying, To ship the passage of time. That’s their job! You need to fix it. Only you can.”
The two hadn’t moved for a while now so after their conversation, they started to trek over the bridge and continue up the hilly road. The higher they climbed the thinner the woods became. Anastasia was whistling a tune. It was soft and melodic and Darius felt it was familiar. It comforted him as they walked, not many words exchanged during this walk as all Darius could do was think about when he defended himself against her. That tingle was still lingering in him. After learning he has to kill to be free. He wasn’t even sure what it was that he missed, but he knew it meant everything to him. He knew deep down he had to do this deed. A bolt of lightening lit up the sky for a moment but no thunder came crashing afterwards. For a brief moment everything that could cast a shadow, did. Admist the rain feeling heavier with hardly any trees to umbrella the two. They’d reached a part of the road where the incline started to level out. Looking behind him now, he saw the woods below him and saw trees scattered beneath him. “Hey” he said softly but loud enough for Anastasia to hear him through the rain; she was ahead by a few strides.
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“What if I don’t want to.” He said as she came closer standing next to him looking down on the hill. She put her hand on his shoulder. Darius didn’t turn his gaze from the sight below. “Look, Darius, right? They will look like me and you, but they’re not people. They take that form because it's all they know. You’re doing him a service. He has lived since time began. He cannot die, except by your hands. Maybe he knew this, maybe that’s why he’s done this. Ruined all those lives who are ready to rest. It’s selfish but could you really live and see all that is beyond you but never taste it. He’s not evil. Y’know you have to do it right, you know you will do it anyway, right?” Darius only felt worse hearing her words because he knew he could not stop himself. “Harbinger” he said his voice as still as ice. “Is that what I am?” He turned to look at Anastasia. She was staring into his eyes when he turned. He recoiled slightly, though not quite the reaction from the last time. Anastasia then turned around and sharply pointed over the hills top. “Darius. I will help you. I owe that bastard a favour anyway. You will learn a lot in dial, I think.” She had an air of confidence about her as she spoke “ It’s cool though, right, you’re like a Time Lord or something”
“What the Hell is a Time Lord” Darius rallied back almost instantly
“I dunno. Sounds better than Harbinger though, right?” She laughed and Darius smiled for the first time. It did make him feel a little better he felt like whatever he had forgotten, it was the most important thing to him. He did not understand this place or Anastasia really. The sensation that everything was as it should be led him this way. He felt his Henki pulsating through him. He felt this power inside him softly ticking in his head. He wasn’t really sure why, but he knew the path in which he walked was the only one he could. As they laughed they walked over the peak of the hill and continued down the other side.
The other side of the Hill looked exactly like the one they had come from. trees scattered below them as the road descends into the woods. Anastasia stopped and lifted her hand to her chin and began to ponder. “Where are we?” Darius asked
“Remember when I said I was the Gatekeeper, then I said I wasn’t, I actually am!” She laughed with joy at the end of that sentence “Had you fooled, huh?”
“Yeah, sure. What is the Gatekeeper, exactly?” Anastasia pointed with both of her hands slightly away from her face right at her own cheeks “Ta da! Me, you silly goose!” Darius rolled his eyes and remained looking at her. “Okay, you need a key remember, to get into Dial, you need a key.”
She spoke quickly making it hard for Darius to keep up. “So I give people keys to get into dial, those who are shipped here. But I have to find the gate. I can’t remember where I left it”
You can’t remember where you left the key?” He questioned No sense of sarcasm in his voice.
“No! I always have the keys!” She scrounged around in a handbag in her coat, something Darius hadn’t noticed she had up until now. She pulled out the bland bronze Sundial from before
“That’s the key?”
Anastasia nodded gleefully. “Need a gate though.
Darius looked at the dial again. He didn’t feel anything strange it just seemed like a regular sundial. “Hey… What did you say you saw when you looked at it last time?”Darius paused in a trance looking at it before replying.
“Stars. A huge constellation of them shaped like the dial.”
“Oh.”
“Does that help?”
“No. not really. Oh wait. Yes it does!” She didn’t seem too sure but her eyes lit up. Anastasia ran to a small rock near a steep edge of the hill and placed it flat on top of it. “Okay” she said firmly “Come over here Darius!” He shuffled over intrigued at what she was doing. After catching up to her he felt a little excited.
“Okay. Listen buddy. This is what I remember. You see your Henki?” Darius didn’t seem any the wiser, Anastasia pointed at the bracelet around his wrist, extending her arm and reclining it in repetition. “Do you even listen? Geez try help a guy out..” She seemed a little disappointed as if proud she was able to catch Darius up with what is going on. She grabbed his hand and held it over the sundial. Darius felt his hand tingle more violently. A rushing of air started to blow around them. The bracelet, his Henki, softly glowed a bright white. The shadow cast on the dial started to spin around the numbers on it edge. The wind picked up speed as did the rotation of the shadow. It got so wild that all that could be heard was the shriek of wind, like someone writhing in agony. The shadow came to a sudden stop on the eleventh hour. And a huge black shadow extended across the small flat part of the hill before it started to descend down the road.
“Come on” she yelled. “You opened the gate to dial!” She held his hand and stepped on the pitch black shadow pulling him with her. She looked into his eyes and told him “Y’know, you have blue on your cheek” Darius looked back at her and she laughed. The next thing he knew he felt like he was falling and nothing was around him, just darkness.
Darius opened his eyes and the first sound he heard was the familiar sound of heavy rain as he felt it ricochet all over him and bouncing off his rain coat. He was laid belly first on the soaking wet floor. He looked to his left and saw the bark of a small willow tree. Pulling himself up for what felt like the twentieth time he saw Anastasia exactly as she was before, sat on a farmland fence that followed.a dirty path. Thin grass to its opposing side. Across from it the same only a weather cock was on a beam. It was spinning wildly in the wind. “You’ll get use to it” She called out while Darius walked over. “Get use to what?” He said wincing a bit as he held his ribs, seeming a little sore.
“Time travel” She laughed. “Come on don’t look so glum. This is where you wanted to be!”
Darius felt the place looked no different to where he was moments before. Only it was flat and a few meadows were present. It was the first time he’d seen grass, at least that he remembered. “Time travel?” He asked
“Well kind of. It’s not really important, come on, I’ll show you around. Welcome to Dial!” laughing as she finished her sentence. Not manically but happily. “This is your home isn’t it?” Darius asked with a smile. She nodded. “I haven’t been here since forever!” She was beaming despite the rain which she seemed to hate. They walked down the path until they came to a wooden gate sat between metal fences. All decorated with embalmed figures of gold, silver and bronze. Anastasia just pushed the gate ajar which showed the path leading down a hefty hill to what from up here seemed like a small town. “We’ll find him” She said. Grinning and rubbing her hands together.
“We’ll find him.”