Fortuna sat in the depths of her ticking clock. Once guests bled away from her domain it naturally transformed into its true state. To her she was adrift in her seat among clouds nestled within a kind void. Ticking sounds buffeted the air enough so that any rational mind would have long since been driven mad. The Grandmaster was nowhere near the sanity of mad.
Collections of clocks dominated a long line stretching out into the nothingness. Mawe Hall as she liked to call it. Each person within the town was accounted for down to the last second. Those people who happened to chance upon the town were added within its depth on the off shoots of Travelers Way or Visitors Catacomb. Their lives laid out in refined numbers. Still far rougher of estimates then she would have cared to possess.
A pained expression crossed her face as she looked at the clump of clocks brought forth into her foyer. Nate, Teddy, Mandy, and Karah listed amongst their number. She stared long and hard at her apprentice's clock, the broken mechanism not being the only thing ruining her mood. The damnable body she inhabited seemed to rage at the sight of him, the clock being an extension of him caused similar outburst.
Teddy's clock on the other hand was still keeping time. The arching path of his soul was still clearly laid out, pleasantly mapped, and known. It was as it should be at least for until the morning.
A flick of her wrist had an old wizened looking man bring forth an equally old looking clock. Unlike the metallic pieces filled with life and energy this one hummed within its wooden casing. The coo coo was half emerged and lay off kilter. Lines of spiritual energy shot from it and wrapped around her prize.
Over a hundred years had been placed within this town. Though she did not act directly, her agents were meant to keep it pristine. Free of the contaminants of other Necromancers, including her own long running projects. Misplacing one clock had resulted in this terrible situation.
The twisted knot of spirit energy wrapped around the core of the collected clocks, echoing down the hall. Scowling she tapped at the other line that was now revealed amongst the tangled strings. It led off to an area that was no different then open space.
A step in that direction erected massive stone doors. Carvings placed a relief of a battlefield onto the doors. This was no simple forgotten long lost battle, nor was it a still image. New scenes writhed about and pulled themselves into existence. Errant souls of the damned flitted about their once fleshy bodies haunting what remained of who they were.
The doors encapsulated the entire Great War. The Council had taken to referring it to the Intervention War. The nearly open display of magic had already set the world on fire, and now it was burning up even this small town.
A passing glance was all she spared heading deep into the depths. As she passed the winding halls that stretched for miles, the ground was littered in broken discarded clocks. Scant few retained a polished rosy wood color, the other half a pale ghostly white. If she was to be so bothered she could track any number of these spirits or people, but that was useless. Her target lay deeper.
The distance travelled might have been a single step or enough to circumnavigate the world. Time and distance fell away in the face of fate. It was everywhere at once so why should she not be the same?
At last a tomb opened up around her. A long wall hummed with rhythmic ticking. None fell out of line, no loose springs, nor a misplaced cog. Taking a moment she gazed lovingly at the clocks. They were all of a similar make. All them had names embossed upon their tops in fine golden lettering. Small hand prints next to them.
"It has been some time that I have looked upon my children. I see that few have passed in my absence over the years." She addressed it to the air but a stirring came from the floor.
A woman shrouded in yellow pooled up from the ground. Robes wrapped her body tightly allowing only a set of blazing red irises to look out. She gave a small bow before returning to a polite stance.
"My lady." A melodious tone oozed out of the robes.
She was ignored by her master. The necromancer moves to look at the first of the selection, its location nearest and freshest. If her new students were to survive they would meet her soon. Would he also damage her clock? Render her beyond the ticking of fate? Doom her existence? Yet, it was a fate in itself for her to push him out.
Leaving her youngest daughter's clock behind she headed off toward her apprentices. There were plenty here though a noticeable reduction compared to the seemingly hundreds of her family. Nate's clock would soon make its way here, the thought gave her a sense of acid reflux. Pushing the feeling down she came upon the clock in question.
It was broken. No ticking nor any light of a ghostly existence. How he had tricked fate so thoroughly to ruin all connections was beyond her. Taking the broken thing into her arms a small tear ran down her soft cheek.
"You were such a good apprentice. Attentive, and always following commands. If only you hadn't chosen to depart my tutelage. Might we have prevented this from the start? I had forgiven you for killing my body. It was fair. Abandoning you on those burning fields. It was the only moment that I had thought … That I had thought that Fate was wrong."
***
"As I have explained prior, your fate is tangled with life and death. This is as it should be, yet here an added element of rebirth has been stuffed inside. Breaks in your clock show just how much damage each cycle has rendered onto the fabric that guides you. This twisted mess is working to complicate the already broken lines that feed into those around you."
The Grandmaster lectured at Renee. A wide room filled with a large magic circle had been prepared in the building next to the hospital. The land was owned by the White family but hadn't been placed within the boundary of their Pseudo-Spirit House.
The two women were accompanied by Teddy. Nate had been there to observe but that had quickly proven counter productive. Bouts of rage grew more frequent the longer that he was near the Grandmaster. His desire to monitor what happened and not cause trouble clashed heavily.
He sat with reluctance outside. For his part Wayne was still nowhere to be seen. Something about reassembling the proper tools for war. They weren't pressed for time until the start of the military parade. The event wasn't moved forward despite their arrival. Luck or as the grandmaster would say fortune smiled upon them. The temporary military base lay outside of the expected magic circle encompassing the town.
Nate might have been sent off to remove another eye in an attempt to weaken the spell. It had been deemed unnecessary, their last attempt other than being a failure as a lure, had also failed to weaken the spell.
"Then is my clock thing also broken?" Teddy asked.
"No, my dear boy. Your clock still glows and gleams radiantly. Fear not we shall rid you of any. Obstacle to your predicted path. To start your tangled fate with this one here must be strengthened."
"I don't mind being bound further to my dear. However, doesn't that just make it worse, for both of us?" Renee asked.
"This is why you need a proper education. We can't get rid of your fate. All living things have one after all, all things really. But that's too difficult to quantify. No children I will be converting the strings that make up your rebirth into those that create your bond. Your fate will simply change but not be erased."
"But if you only change the part about rebirth then her death will still be decided. Is this spell going to kill her?" Teddy's eyes went wide in shock.
"NO, no. Of course not. That would ruin things quite thoroughly. Rebirth is twisting your death and life. So if we unwind the rebirth your time shall return to its proper place. What a magnificent clock you still might be."
"Don't say it as if this is simple. We both know you did this to me. Now fix it." Renee said.
The discussion was over. Nothing more need be said between those gathered.
Slumping against the door opposing wall across from the room Nate watched the doors intently. Mandy and Karah hadn't been able to take the pressure of waiting to see the results. The smaller of the women had dragged off the smoking girls figure to practice.
Theodora's heavily gowned figure materialized next to him. A playful smile graced her lips. The dress had a wide rim that was normally supported by metal netting. Instead long pieces of bone made up the dress's structure. As if to entice him it was a light mint color with white lace and tight corset. Its restrictive nature did nothing to contain her movements. A twirl sent the hem edging up as if she was begging for him to look upon her legs.
"Trying to distract me? I thought you'd be better at it."
"Ara, was that too stimulating for you?"
"I wouldn't call it stimulating with just your legs showing."
"My oh my. Seems you want the whole meal and not just a snack." Theodora let her hair tumble down into his face. The long wisps shrouding him.
"I don't have time for this." He muttered into her hair.
"From where I'm standing all you have is time. Come let's at least get some fresh air while we wait. You would not want her to leave the room to find you waiting. Temperamental as she is." Unwillingly Nate let her pull him away.
Power surged around Renee. She was placed at the center of the magic circle. It was heavily layered and not something that was created thoughtlessly. The strokes and lines aligned to the point it would hurt to gaze too long and deeply upon its visage. Just as Teddy was currently doing.
The young Cotten was in a secondary magic circle. Since fate was being changed and not destroyed or created this would be the supposed safest method. A slow chant left the Grandmasters' lips. It was a language neither of the children could identify. The syllables came out strained and harsh. Accompanied by the feeling of something wrapping around the two.
Behind the woman's body two clocks were set on their own magic circles. Teddy could feel the natural connection that linked him to his time piece. A warm and full feeling that ended in coldness.
The ticking of the clock, stirring of the particles in the air slowed to a crawl. Spirit energy washed out from within the clump of robes that made up the Grandmaster. Participating down and washing deep into magic circles. At last with a final tick both clocks stopped. Their hands are held in the exact same frame.
Renee now felt the strings binding her slowly be strummed. They ran out into the cosmos but twisted back down to form an unending trail. A hand reached out clasping the strings. Giving a small pull the Grandmaster reeled in the fathomless wires, slotting them not into the broken clock but to Teddy's.
His own soul was connected to Renee. Unlike her own, he didn't have to die every ten years. The reason he was such a prize to Fortuna was that very same reason. The incomplete girl was nothing compared to the usefulness of the boy.
Pain surged up through Teddy's body. The circle spinning slowly under his feet ejecting out fine wires that plunged seemingly into his flesh. In truth they bypassed his physical shell driving deep into his soul. At last the two's connection tightened.
An odd sensation passed between the two children. Some memories long forgotten by the boy's soul. They mingled with Renee's own vivid reminiscences. He was woefully unprepared to take in their contents but still he attempted to do so. The lines that divided the two slowly melding and mending.
Where the two became one and one became two blurred.
A moment stretched into infinity to collapse back to the two. A field of white origami like flowers rustled in the soft wind against a growth of long grass. Fields dotted the land below the large hill that two young children stood upon. Out and out more the land climbed wisps of clouds casting a pleasant feeling upon the sun baked skin.
Teddy sat down under the large apple tree that had once been his family's. Which family was muddled and unclear. It felt distant as if he might have not seen it yet, or it was far further back then any could remember. It was solid and cared for them for generations.
Heavy thick roots enmeshed it to the ground so that it might shelter the two. The grass was clean, animals willing and able. What was before them was meant to be claimed.
Renee turned away from the fields and flowers. A radiant smile flashing across her face as she looked at the only one for her. Tens of lives that she could remember and hundreds that seemed to grow like weeds amongst the cosmos. Each time the two of them collide, only to blend together.
"My dear, what shall it be from now on? Are we not the tree and the land? All that remains is to spread our apples far and wide."
"I would want nothing else. A fine harvest lay far a field and its bounty shall be ours." Teddy replied with words feeling foreign and clearly some other language.
The two gazed deeply at one another before at last the sound of creaking wood pulled them from their revelry. Renee's clock wound back up. The cracks and missing pieces filled in as vines clamped down around Teddy metallic clock. Two faces formed to click in synchronicity though sometimes not at the same hour.
A small coo coo bird pushed it way out from within letting off a small sweet sound hoot before returning within. The Grandmaster stepped out from the magic circle power fading as she did so. A small jewel was clutched in her hand as she rested upon a chair. Tentatively Renee spoke.
"Is it done? Can we move?" Fear and hope filled each syllable.
"Take your prize child. I have succeeded in altering your fate. Try not to live to regret it." Stern words flowed from her mouth.
Renee took off at full speed plowing straight into Teddy. An uncanny feeling had told him she'd done this thousands of times before prompting him to catch her. He twirled her around his spinning at the same time as laughter escaped both their lips. Even the Grandmaster cracked a smile at the two before realizing what she was doing and frowning.
When a thousand words could not express their emotions or had already been laid bare before the two embraced in silence. For the first time in her memory Renee felt truly and completely safe.