Chapter Text
Mark could have sworn on his life that he had been on the brink of death.
He felt like his body was shredded apart from its organs and skulls, how hard he held onto dear life. He swore that he saw the timeline go down from ten to zero in no a matter of seconds.
What was he trying to do earlier on? He remembered running after someone else, tears flooding his eyes, but when he got there...
It was all too late.
And then, he heard silence instead of complete chaos. People screaming, shouting, echoing in the both of his ears, painfully ringing. Out of the blue, he heard the languid sound of birds chirping. He opened his eyes with a start.
What happened?
He can’t see anything aside from the wide, flourishing grassland and how he felt the wind brushing against his skin. The sky is blue, the blue he once saw vanishing from humanity's sight. It was there, shining brightly alongside the sun and the clouds. He could clearly hear birds chirping nearby.
Is this heaven, he thought, hands reaching out towards the sky as he took a step forward, relishing how nice grass felt under his bare feet. He smiled. God, how he missed the feeling of stepping in between tall grasses and taking in breaths of a fresh air.
How did the earth get from here?
“I suppose I have kept you waiting?” There was a sound, from his behind, coming closer. Mark could feel his feet rustling as he prodded through the plants on the floor. “Where are my manners? I apologize for making you wait,” the disembodied voice said. Mark turned around.
Instead of a sprawling field, now he saw a pond, accompanied by a big beautiful tree with swans idling in the clear water.
And there it was, hiding behind the big tree he could see it wearing a long loose white robe, its hair beautifully loose dangling down from shoulder down to its waist. Suddenly, Mark had the innate feeling that he were in another world and he knew what he'd be supposed to be doing, he would give this creature a kiss on its hand. But he was not supposed to know, so he simply stood there until it came to him.
He looks like royalty, godlike even .
“No need to tense up darling one, take a seat,” it said. “Let us have a little talk, you must be confused, aren't you?” The graceful figure strode after him, sitting down by the pool, its hand reaching out to Mark inviting him for a talk, perhaps, or at least that was what the creature would tell him.
Where am I?
That is not his voice. It was someone else's. The voice sounded really familiar, making his brain tingle, trying to remember whoever the owner of the voice he had heard earlier. His question made the ethereal creature widen its eyes and let out a tilting laugh right after. Oh. Had he said that aloud? “I thought you would have known by now, beautiful one.” It appeared baffled by his nescience. “In a garden you have lived in on your own… in this garden you once called home… what a pity, I thought you would have known.”
His used to be living, place.
Mark looked around for anything that could make him stir something, a memory . It doesn’t matter if it’s not his own. Anything to make him solve this unsaid riddle. The pond, the swans lounging in its pool, the sweet fragrance his surroundings gave off. He couldn't recall what it is since… well, it seemed like he didn't possess any memories of his own.
Only a name, and short memory maybe about five seconds long about what have happened before he woke up in this odd, beautiful field.
He barely remember now.
What are you?
Once again that was not his voice, but the creature’s face bent down when it realized something was going on with the entity in Mark's head. “Huh,” it mumbled. “You’re not… you, are you? It's someone else. Who is this?”
I… don’t know either.
The creature seemed to take pity on him. “Something must have happened down there when you decide to help this person out, right?” The creature looked away from him, far away. “I suppose it is normal. This man is too kind hearted to leave what was supposed to be left behind.”
This man this creature was talking about, was his helper he supposed.
“You have so many questions, are you not?” The creature looked way taller than it was earlier. Mark marveled in fascination as the creature walked, grace in motion, hair looking softer than the finest silk. Though its eyes scared him at first-- slant black eyes with a shining bright silver pupil being standing out the most-- he fell deep into its smile.
That serene soothing smile reminded him of his own parents.
“But since my dear one has brought you here to me, I suggest you plead for your wish to be fulfilled before the time runs out.,”
Time?
The creature chuckled as it saw the confused face Mark made. “Let’s just say that, you're here with me in a dream and you have to wake up soon,” the creature said, looking up to the blue sky he had missed greatly. ”Isn’t it great? To have someone to spend time with before the end of time?”
It was Mark’s turn to be confused. What about the end of time?
But, I clearly remember the apocalypse--
“Ah, yes, the great apocalypse I once promised mother nature,” the creature trailed off, again, two hands behind its back it walked back and forth near the pond. The swans looked on. “But that is not what you have wished for, nor is it the thing you wished to talk to me for, isn’t it?”
The thing that he wished for., What was it? What made him end up here so suddenly, with this mysteriously infatuating creature in his presence?
I don’t remember my wish.
Or at least that's what he thought.
The creature giggled. “Oh really? That’s funny,” it said, waving his hand dismissively. Mark managed to see a landscape , or at least an illusion of it, briefly rising up to the surface. It came out of nowhere. He felt himself freeze up when his view shifted, triggering his memories, forcefully jogging it from the deepest corner of his memory. “Was it this?” The creature wondered, its voice sounding confused. It might be faking his tone, but he wasn't sure. The view it showed him made Mark cling onto his seat.
In vivid colour he remembered what had happened, and what he had lost.
He heard desperate screams of people who were frightened by the idea of death; frightened by the idea of running out of the time they have wasted so much for their entire lifetime. He saw chaos at its core, red flaring flames, faint orange smoke wafting upwards and crowds of people splintering into their separate ways, running for their lives.
Wait.
“Or was it… something like this?” The view changed again, to something even worse. He saw what he had lost. Friends and families were dissipating into thin air, burning while their screams rung loudly in his ears. Mark wanted to plead for it to go away, for the creature to stop showing him these things, these cruel and terrifying things.
Please no, stop, he tried to plead. The view stilled. The creature reappeared back in into his vision. The scenery still goes on.
He had lost in the midst of the war against time.
Mark quivered in his seat, his hands profusely sweating, fervently trying to recall what he had wanted that brought him here to this very place that felt so strange to him.
“What a poor little soul you are, mortal one?” It mused. Mark saw it turned to him as how the long robes approaching his line of vision. “Lonely and lost, you begged for something you can't even remember.”
I’m trying to remember!
“I know, dear one.” Its hand crept onto his knees, in its way consoling him. “But our time won't last forever,”
Maybe there was a chance, another chance to righten his wrong, or maybe a chance to say sorry, another chance to make up for all of the time he wasted before time runs out. Mark clenched his fist as he felt something burning in his chest, hurting him. so much so that he didn’t even realize a teardrop slipping out, dissolving as it touched the back of his hand.
A longing.
Somewhere, somehow, he felt something made him realize what he had been wishing for that made him stood in this odd space.
“Well? What do you long for?”
Faintly he remembered, in his last seconds. When he saw everything crumble into pieces in front of his own eyes, those flaring flames reaching towards him. The explosion the meteor made, and a dizzying sense of warmth that made him cry out unfamiliar words he could manage to get past his lips.
Who was it, he wondered. A pair of arms wrapping around his shoulder as he began to shut his eyes. He remembered how that fabric felt in between his fingers, embracing back the figure who wrapped their arms around his body.
Ah, yes.
He knew now.
But when he lifted his face, gusts of raging winds began pushing him away from the current reality he was living in, the creature only gazed away, smiling sweetly that it coalesced with the beautiful scenery they’re standing in. “Our time is out.” I know, Mark thought, clenching his fist, trying to hold on to something. He tried to make out the thoughts and wish out loud. “You better start speaking now or you'll lost your chance to make a change.,”
Will you grant my wish? Even if it's difficult one will you make it come true?
The creature scoffed, laughing. “Oh dear, it seems that you haven’t figured out who I am,” it said, hands back waving around changing the scenery to something Mark couldn’t recognize. But the only thing he think about is how flabbergasted he was seeing the new landscape.
It does not look like heaven anymore, but instead looks like the beginning of a life.
The wind whirled about stronger as he felt his body pulling away from gravity more. The creature raised his eyebrows, waiting for him to speak. Mark held on to dear life as he slowly got dragged away out of this place.
I know what I'm wishing for!
The creature smiled fondly. “Good,” it said. “Say it.”
The tree creaked, breaking with a sickening crack. Mark thought he had lost his chance, and so he reached out towards anything he could grasp, trying to bring his words to fruition. The creature did not even spare him a hand, only watching as Mark started to drift away.
At the very last minute, Mark shouted, repeating what he had in mind, then he completely disappearing into a void of nothingness.
The creature smiled, its hands clasped together.
“Very well then,” it mumbled. “I shall grant your wish, poor mortal.”
***
And so let it be known that i have change the written fate in these books
A game to play and a chess to control
Seems like it will be a fun game to play
And so i will comply to what you have wished for
For you too, to shall play a part in my little game against the end of time
As you owe me a big part of your lifetime