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Caël and the other children scrambled into the elevator and up the steps to the watchmaker room.
They all carried blankets and pillows. They loved Saturdays! After all that's when the watchmaker would tell them stories.
The woman looked up from what she was tinkering on as the children loudly tumbled into the room.
“Ah, it's nighttime already hmm?” She often lost track of time, getting too focused on her craft to notice anything else.
“Yeah, it's story time!” Spike whined and tugged at her sleeve.
“All right all right.” She chuckled and settled to the ground. Locket gave her an extra pillow they carried. And Hammer wrestled in a blanket.
She sat down against the wall and motioned to them. “Come on now, get comfy.” A small smile tugged at her lips as the children scrambled over and around her in a messy pile.
“Let's see…” she hummed and patted Caël's hair. “Once upon a time… there was a kingdom in the clouds.”
“You told this one already!” Locket whined.
“Oh I have? Uh let me think…” a lot of her stories would be too scary for children. Then she remembered one. “Have I told you about the guardian gods?”
“Everyone knows about them!” Toe exclaimed.
“Yes. But this is a very special story about the two.” She would have to get creative, she was running out of actual stories, but she was locked in this castle due to her creativity.
“Luana and Solen loved their creations. The children of the solstices.” She hummed, drawing on all her memories of these tales. “So much so, that a fiber of their being thread into the children's very souls. Tethering them to the heavens and the earth.”
She knew the gods weren't real. But it would hopefully entertain the children. “These children would grow their connection to the gods. Magic would eventually emerge. The children would call on their creators. Due to this connection they accomplished many great feats!”
“Like what.” Caël asked, looking up with large eyes. She should have been prepared for the question having five children who were highly invested in her stories, and longed to know everything about the world they could never see.
“They were able to move the moon and the sun, calling upon Luana or Solen to smile down upon them and strengthen their powers. They would raise a fist to the air and the very heavens and elements would bend to their calls.” She smiled. Passing down stories. It was right, it felt right.
Almost like when she would curl up in her mother's lap during stormy nights and listen wide eyed to tales of gods and heroes.
“They would fight back evil and monsters that crawled out of fear and darkness. Casting them back into the shadows and keeping their towns bathed in the light of their god and goddess!”
"Every once in a while they would choose a champion to represent them. Each of these worlds would draw, sculp, and warship these champions. For through them, the gods where able to hear them."
She herself was so wrapped up in this entire story that she hadn't realized all of them had fallen asleep. Except for Caël who was desperately trying to keep himself awake.