Timeless Hero Without a Goal

1st Tick: The Myth

The world is an unforgiving place, humans had once lived carelessly in the world before the disaster occured. A disaster, the entrance of the Devil. With his army of countless demons led by his ten commanders, the world was swept up in a flash. Demons used curses, they had a superior body and are more adaptable to harsh conditions. Humans were soft, with limited magic at their disposal.

When the demons invaded the world, against the ten commanders, humanity’s greatest heroes were unable to compare. Many died, others simply disappeared. As a result, the Devil completely took over the world, he, with his armies, ruled in tyranny.

Humans were their playthings, there so that they could kill for fun. There was no escape, everywhere they ran were demons, no one was spared. Decades passed, those originally involved in the war had all died off, the remainder of humanity simply obeyed the Devil.

That was when a rumour spread. There was a man that could save them, a man with enough power. The stories said that he was so strong, no one could compare, only the Devil himself might stand a chance. However, no one knew his name, his face or his magic. People prayed, they hoped that he would show up one day, the man they called the ‘clock keeper’. The rumour spread, people started to wish he would help them.

Despite that, they knew, deep in their hearts, the Click Keeper did not exist, it was just a myth made up by someone to instil hope within humanity. To keep them believing in a chance for freedom, they created such preposterous stories. There was no point, just stop.

The girl closed the book and faced the children. She was young, around 16, the age where most humans would be taken away by the demons. She faced the children gathered around her and said, “There’s no way we can win.”

One child raised his hand. “The man isn’t real?”

She smiled and rubbed his head. “Of course he isn’t, when was someone that strong ever part of humanity?”

The children murmured among themselves, unsure of what they should do. The girl apologised and left, having finished reading them the story. She sighed as she walked back to her home, preparing to continue with work. In a few days time, the demons were going to come to the village, she was going to be taken by them and tortured, eventually killed. She tried putting it aside, she might just try to kill herself before that happened. She wrapped a cloth around her head and started working at her diner she inherited from her parents.

“Yeah, can I have a stir-fry?” Someone requested.

It was a small diner, not many people would come to it. She was rather surprised to see a man sitting there, looking at her menu. She asked, “What kind of stir-fry?”

“Are vegetables the only thing here?” He asked.

“Yes, I run a vegan establishment.”

He looked up at her. He was rather tall, with a sharp expression. He had black hair that grew slightly long, his hair swept back and quite unkept. He stared at the menu for some time, his dark eyes scanning through it. He sighed and said, “Can I just have anything that’s good?”

“Yeah, what?” She asked again.

He dropped his head on the table, saying, “I’m hungry, quite so. I’ll just have everything on the menu if you don’t want to recommend something yourself!”

She put her arms on her hips. “I would like to have enough ingredients to serve other customers.”

He groaned and faced her before looking back. “What customers?”

She picked the menu up and showed it to him, shouting, “Just pick something already! There’re like, three options.”

“I’ll have all three, thank you very much.” He shouted back.

“Like I said, I-“

He clutched his head with both hands before asking, “Why do you have to be so difficult, woman?”

He sighed and pointed at the first option. “I’ll have this then.”

“Thank you for your patronage.” She smiled. “Would you like a drink?”

“What are the options?” He asked, scratching his chin.

“Water.” She told him.

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“Then why did you bother asking?” He complained.

“Do you want your food or not?” She raised her voice.

“As a matter of fact, I do!”

He calmed himself down and cleared his throat, “Whatever, could you just get me the food? I’m quite hungry.”

“If you want to eat quicker, you should have gone to the store a few blocks down, they cook really fast.” She suggested.

“Woman, do you even want business?” He asked. “Is that why you have no customers?”

“That’s a different matter.” She argued.

“How?”

“I only recommend honestly, I never lie.”

“That sounds like a lie.”

She turned around and started to cook. She was done quite quickly, and she served him a slightly bigger portion. He looked at the dish and asked, “Just to make sure, how much is this?”

“50 Devi.”

He slammed the table and stood up, “That’s a scam.”

She stuck her tongue out and looked away. “Guess you should have checked the price tag.”

“There is no price tag on your menu.” He complained, putting the menu to her face. “See, this is obviously a scam, there is no way a salad costs 50 Devi! I could buy meat with that money!”

“Hey! It’s a stir-fry, not a salad.”

“I might as well eat a garden!”

He sat back down on his chair and sighed. “With the price of this thing, I think I lost all appetite...”

“When was the last time you ate?” She asked.

“A week ago?” He replied, unsure. “Or was it two?”

“Then eat already.” She told him. “You don’t need to pay, I don’t need it anyways.”

“Why?”

“Around this time, the demons will definitely come to take me away.”

He kept quiet and ate the food, looking out the door. She looked out as well, seeing nothing. She then noticed something about his eyes, they were black eyes, but had a certain glint to it that was rare. He finished eating and stretched, “Thanks for the food!”

He pulled out something from his breast pocket, a shiny object. It was a small clock, attached to a chain attached to his suit. He looked at the time and stood up, taking out a pouch. “Hm... you can have the money, I don’t need it either.”

“Huh? You making fun of me?” She asked.

“Since when?” He complained, turning around. “Please, for the love of God, stop making things difficult for me.”

She stared at the clock and asked, “How did you get that?”

“This?” He asked, holding up the clock. “An old antique I found, why? It barely works anyways.”

He yawned and walked out, saying, “Don’t feel like coming back here anymore.”

“There won’t be a place to come back to in a few days.” She assured him.

He laughed, “I never knew you had a sense of humour.”

She waved him off and started to close shop. There was no point in continuing business, one customer for her was enough. Instead, she went for a walk around time, wondering what she could do as part of her bucket list. She did not have much to do, she only went around the town, greeting whoever she could. They knew she was the next one to be taken away, it was a sad thing for them, they wished her well.

“Why’s it have to be me?” She wondered, staring into the sky.

Two days passed, and there was an uproar at the city entrance. She sat nearby, her head hung low. Her red hair was tied into a braid, her fringe reaching almost to her eyes. She wore normal clothes, a shirt and jeans. She had already accepted her fate, no one was there to save her. The demons arrived that day in their carriages, ready to take her away.

Demons had dark skin, a strong build and most of the time white hair. They had red eyes, and sharp teeth capable of biting through a human’s arm. They were menacing, intelligent creatures that took over the human race.

She was watched as they approached her, arrogant smiled on their faces. When they were nearby, their attention was directed elsewhere, their change in sight also made her look. There, walking casually along the streets, was a familiar man. He wore something like a suit, walking around while looking at his clock.

She thought it was weird, what was he doing?

Her wrists were cuffed together, and she was brought into the carriage where another demon sat guard. As expected, the guy also entered, cuffed and confused. He saw her and asked, “What am I doing here?”

“That’s what I wanna ask.” She said.

“Well, I was just out on a walk, these fellows are quite rude, don’t you think?” He told her, shaking his head.

“Why would you take a walk on a day like this?”

“Well, it’s my problem.”

He sat down, sighing. He crossed his legs, carefree, as if he was not a prisoner to begin with. He looked around the carriage as it started to move. He commented, “The interior design isn’t too shabby...”

“Is that really the only thing you can think of?” She asked, covering her face.

She had thought of dying by herself, but with him, she was likely to die beside him. Her death was going to be embarrassing. She looked at the guy again, he was spacing out, as if thinking about things. She was about to ask for his name when the entire carriage got flipped over, both of them and the demon tossed out of the vehicle.

“That wasn’t nice.” He said.

“Not a good time!” She yelled at him.

In front of the carriage was a hooded figure, his hands raised. Where did he come from? Why was he there? She looked at him, her first thought drifting to the hero mentioned in the myths, someone capable of fighting the Devil. She wanted to know his face, she wanted to see his magic. Whether he was the real deal or not, she felt like he was her saviour.

She saw it, a brilliant magic, a scarlet red in colour. A column of flames razed the carriage to ashes, nothing was spared, even the ground got burnt to ashes. She had never seen such magic before, the ability to annihilate anything in his path. The demons started to panic slightly as he prepared for his next attack.

One of the demons chanted something, words floating up to the hooded figure. The words wrapped around his body, neck and arms, rendering him unable to move. Her heart dropped, such a powerful mage was unable to even stand up to the demon’s curses.

She averted her eyes as they approached him with spears. There was silence, even the guy beside her was silent. She looked back up, seeing a spear pointed at her. To her left, the guy was on the ground, bleeding, a hole in his chest and his eyes lifeless. The demon raised the spear and trusted down on her. She was unable to close her eyes, watching as the spear got closer to her.

She really wished someone could help her, she did not want to die just yet.

Right before the spear hit her, it disappeared, the demon left confused. She stared at where the spear would have hit, wondering what kind of magic was in play.

“This is rather heavy.”

She looked to her left, where the voice came from. She saw, along with the demons, they were in awe. The guy, wearing a suit, the chain of his clock hanging out of his breast pocket, held the spear. Even weirder, he stood beside his own corpse, unharmed. He bounced the spear up and down slightly before tossing it aside, saying, “Don’t think I can use this.”

He, as if he was the only person there, started to walk off, his arms no longer cuffed. She stared in shock, shouting, “Aren’t you going to help me?”

He looked back, the demons having not made a move. He scratched his chin and waved, his corpse disappearing. “No way, I owe you nothing. I paid all 50 Devi, didn’t I?”

There was a slight twinkle in his eyes, she could see it. Whoever he was, his magic was weird. She had never seen any magic being able to revive s person after he died. He was special, she felt like he could help her. She shouted, “It was actually 51 Devis! You still owe me some.”

He gave her a smile, his eyes lighting up slightly as he laughed, the demons fidgeting. He covered his face and swiped his hair back, a wicked smile on his face. He snapped his finger, catching the attention of all demons before he said, “Listen here, I will perform a trick, watch carefully.”

A clock appeared behind him, the hour hand pointing at the number six while the minute hand stayed on twelve. The clock was translucent and produce a ticking sound that silenced all other noises.

He smiled as the demons tried to chant their curses.

“Sixth Hour.” He said.

Everything else made no sense to her, she saw another one of her not too far away. She looked back, the mage who used fire was there, not dead. The carriage was fully intact, but she had rolled out. The demons looked around, also confused. The guy in the suit raised his hands and the carriage flipped over. The demons came face to face with their counterparts, both sides confused. Around the girl, more things started to appear, other versions of her, more of them. She watched as the counterparts of her ran off while the demons stared at each other. Whoever the real one was, they were unable to tell. The mage readied his next spell, but fell over, curses killing him.

Something was wrong, he had died because the curse restricted him, not killed him outright. She looked in another direction, this time, the mage came from a different direction and was struck down before he did anything. She saw more events happening, repeatedly, the same result occurring to the mage. However, one succeeded, the demons and her watched as the carriage, after she had jumped off, the mage burnt it while the demons were still on it. They sprawled out, on fire, and in pain before they fell over, vaporising.

The demons, who were shocked, noticed something along with the girl.

Their surrounding disappeared, she was in the carriage, midway through jumping out. She rolled on the ground, hands still cuffed as the demon inside looked at her, confused. She stared back, seeing the guy smiling back at her. The scenario was familiar, too familiar, even the demons realised what was going on.

Before they could jump out, the entire carriage was set ablaze, turning to ashes. Demons ran out, throwing curses randomly to no avail before vaporising.

“Does this pay the 1 Devi I owe you?” He asked, beside her.

“How...” She muttered.

He shrugged, tapping the cuffs. It simply disappeared, letting her hands free. Nearby, the mage approached them, pulling his hood down. He was an older guy, with a beard. He saw both of them and bowed.

“I did not realise there were humans in the carriage, please, let me apologise.” He said.

The guy waved him off and helped the girl onto her feet. He walked off afterwards, not wanting to have anything to do with her anymore. She thanked the mage and ran off in his direction, shouting, “Where are you going?”

He said back to her, “None of your concern.”

“I’m following you then.”

“Don’t.”

“Watch me.”

He sighed, covering his face with one hand. His hair was dropping, his fringe falling to the sides, in a swishing pattern. He told her, “Trust me, you should stay away from me.”

“Why? Are you a criminal?” She asked.

“Not quite.”

“You had quite the extraordinary magic. What did you do?” She inquired, curious.

“Tempt fate, now leave me alone. I have a job to do.” He complained, walking faster.

She followed his pace. “Job? You look like the most jobless person in town.”

“So what? A job’s a job.”

He quicker his pace more, she was able to keep up. She continued, “what’s your magic?”

“Damn woman, can’t you leave me be?” He shouted. “Also, why do you walk so fast?”

He stopped and sighed, staring at the sky. “Please, why me?”

He shook his head and faced the girl, with a straight expression, he asked, “Name?”

“What?” She asked.

“What’s your name?”

“Rose, Rose Gold.”

“Your parents named you after a colour?” He questioned, holding back his laughter.

“Yeah, so what?” She demanded, blushing slightly. “Then what’s your name?”

He tilted his head.

“My name’s Thomas Thompson.”

“Okay, Tom, w-”

“My name is Thomas.” He corrected her.

“So, Tom...”

“It’s one syllable, how is it that hard?” He cried. “Just pronounce the full thing.”

“So, Tom, what’s your job!”

“Whatever, I’m getting nowhere with you.” Thomas waved.

He held his clock by the chain, swinging it back and forth. He explained to her, “It’s not much of a job than a responsibility. I inherited it from someone I know, been doing it since then. Recently, someone’s been causing some trouble for me, so I need to find out where he is and beat him up.”

“Who is that?”

“The guy you guys called the Devil.” He stared bluntly.

“Are you insane?” Rose asked, checking his temperature by putting her palm against his forehead.

He pushed her hand aside and countered, “What? I’m perfectly sane. Mind you, I’m the person with the most sanity in my workplace.”

“Yeah, must be some dysfunctional workplace you have.”

“So what if it is?”

He started to pace himself slowly, walking at a pace easy for travelling. He sighed, “That Devil really messed things up for me.”

“You sound like you know him personally.” Rose commented.

“I do.”

“What?”

“What?”

“You know the Devil?”

“Yeah, I’ve fought him once before.”

“How are you still alive?”

“Mind you, I can hold my own against him.”

She stopped in place and faced him, genuinely curious. He had such amazing magic, he even treated the Devil like an old acquaintance. Just who was he? No human could have pulled off what he did, no human could come back from being killed once. What was he?

“What are you, really?”

He looked back at her, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He gave her a small smile and said, “First of the Four Myths, The ClockKeeper, Thomas Thompson. Nice to make you acquaintance.”