Chapter 2
"I see your owner enjoys classics like my uncle…" There's a thin gold disk with the word Cheshire engraved across the center. It dangles from twisted pieces of red yarn worn around the cat's neck.
"Is he yours?" Hoku swiftly glances above the creature's pointy ears.
Polaris is leaning against the backrest of a chair, arms smugly crossed.
"The cat? No… I thought he was yours."
He raises an eyebrow, faintly tilting his head as his gaze lowers to Cheshire.
"I have no clue where this creature came from. He just appeared."
Dimples form at the corners of Polaris's mouth, and his expression gradually dulls into puzzlement.
"...He appeared in the same spot near the hearth."
"Hearth?"
Hoku walks up the last few steps, and the cat jolts out of the doorway, whisking around the stair railing on the second floor before scurrying up the stairs.
He looks back at Polaris, noticing that the tips of his fingers are stark white, with a spot of pink in the center.
Polaris is holding a brown box with scratches along the edges of the lid. No, these were gashes—too wide to have been left by a fingernail.
'Someone was clearly struggling to open it. Is Polaris truly ignorant enough to use a blunt knife of all things? Or was he rushing?'
"What's that?" Hoku asks, tentatively acknowledging the box.
"The watch!" Polaris answers modestly.
"Watch? What for?" Hoku approaches him, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. The belt had become untied and draped above the hem that ended just below his knees.
"I haven't told you much, have I?" He pauses, leaving a greater distance between them than he intended.
"You claimed to not know much," Hoku says.
Polaris stares at him with an amused glint in his eyes.
"I've repaired this pocket watch for you. Though… with the adjustments, it's become more of a compass." He deftly removes the lid.
"Polaris, thank you for the hospitality, I'm sorry for intruding—but I think I should get going." Unease begins to seep into the atmosphere. Hoku can inevitably sense that he isn't the only one growing anxious.
"Just a moment, won't you spare a glimpse at the compass? I polished the frame and hand-hammered the mainspring. Unfortunately, I couldn't entirely patch the glass that protects the dial."
Polaris's grasp falters as his weakened hands drop the lid, and it hurtles to the ground.
"Ah," he stares at it.
"Goodbye, sir." Hoku pulls his hands from his pockets and tugs both sides of the belt, turning in the direction of the door as he adjusts his coat.
He hears a subtle movement from behind him.
Discreetly, Hoku peers through the shorter strands of hair framing the side of his face.
"Wait—"
Bafflement nearly anchors him to stop dead in his tracks.
'His accent was fake.'
"Hoku! Wait!"
Hoku sprints through the rooms, fleeing out of the parlor and back into the dimly lit hallway.
Thankfully, he can't catch much of Polaris's words as his voice trails from somewhere further away.
The door fills a greater portion of Hoku's perspective as he approaches.
'Please be unlocked, please be unlocked, please be—'
He extends his arm, leaning forward little by little.
His hand reaches the door just before the rest of his body collides with the surface. The knob twists loose, and the hinges grind as the door swings open.
An odor—defying description—intrudes his nostrils.
'Manure??'
Hoku cracks his nose with the palm of his hand. "What the hell is this stench?"
"Oi! Pick up your horse shit! Damned mackerel!" A deep, gritty voice bellows, startling him.
A cacophony of hooves mauls at the gravel beyond the fixed gate.
The sky resembles late evening, the early morning far gone.
'Wha—'
A man with rife elderly qualities stands next to a pair of horses pulling the reins of a carriage with immensely large wheels.
The scene is so strenuous that Hoku nearly loses his footing once again.
He stumbles further into the house, gasping for breath as the sound of something recurring catches his attention.
Amidst his bewildered response to the scenery, Polaris has managed to quietly sneak into the hall entrance.
He saunters down the lengthy hallway, looming closer until Hoku eventually wavered in his own direction.
Hoku's eyes tersely meet Polaris's, and the initial hues in Polaris's eyes darken into thunderclouds.
"I can explain, I just didn't want you to panic straight away," he says.
'Even the elagant mannerism in his vocabulary has changed.'
"You've had an 'abundance' of time to mull over your impressions, haven't you?" Polaris says, doubt creeping into his voice. His lips purse, relaxing little by little.
"I've grown accustomed to it after so long. This isn't the first time we've had this conversation, and I am constantly worried it will never end," Polaris continues.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
A small vein swells in his jaw, vanishing when after a deep inhale.
"It means the retraction of our future has finally reached 'Hoku's' universe. Your world has come to an end."
The Memoir Chapter 1
Timesteam 'basics'
Objective 1:
Find your guide. The black cat with emerald eyes. He will show you how to escape the first paradox. Be in no doubt that you have acquired 'THE END OF TIME.' Otherwise, your sequence may end within the first few battles, absent of your highest-tier patrons.
Rule 6:
Killing yourself will not appoint you a domain in the stream.
-Redquadrant was extracted upon the various outcomes of futile attempts. Few made it, fewer were capable of constructing a shelter with their dreams beyond the central universe.-
[Personal letter to The Navigator of The Abundant Creator]
Subject A5157 has been acquired by Phanes. The companies have divided, and we've lost substantial support. You must dispose of the patients you remanded; our silent war will break out if the kid is found.
I will keep an eye out for emergency admittance in those medical facilities. If nothing comes up in three weeks, we will presume his death.
Get back to me ASAP,
Weather Ann Mare
Rule 7:
Lie to the navigator. Conceal an identity that differs from your original traits. The fourth wall will be activated upon the death of an anomaly. If you've failed to hide your identity from the magicians… your existence will be cleared from infinite universes.
-The Memoir Chapter 1 end-