The Path of Time ★ [3] ✔ (EDITING)

Temporal Tower

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Temporal Tower stood tall and ominous – wicked against the red sky – in the distance, a field of blood red poppies growing in the divide between us and the structure. It was hauntingly beautiful. It reminded me so much of Flanders Fields. I fought on that battlefield in the Great War; the First World War. I remembered my time there too fondly – I'd shaved my head and posed as a man for months in order to fight. Why, you might ask? Because I was ordered to – I was ordered to by Eilian. And, no, I'm not going to explain why. My time there was one I'd like to forget.

I led the way through the poppy field like I was walking on eggshells. The place was eerily silent. I could only hear my slow breathing and the thumping of my heart and my blood thrumming in my ears.

"How is this possible?" Steve whispered.

I knew what he meant. He was wondering how flowers like these could grow in a place so desolate.

"The Chronos didn't always look dead, Steve," I replied, hand out brushing against the soft petals of the poppies.

Approaching the double doors of the tower, I noticed that they had been destroyed, ripped off the hinges and destroyed, splinters sprinkled everywhere. The heels of our boots echoed around us as we entered. It was dark, a little too dark to see, so I opened my palm to create a ball of golden light, raising it high above our heads.

Inside looked like it was inhabited once. The rotted wooden tables and rusted metal braziers were proof of that. A stone staircase was attached to the wall, spiralling up and up with tower above to an unknown destination. I walked over to a table and sprawling chairs with broken legs. Plates and cutlery were strewn across the stone floor, rotten food not far away.

"This place was abandoned decades ago," Steve said.

I moved to a bookshelf beside the table and pulled a book off the shelf, the cover decayed and the spine broken. I opened it and the pages fell out, the cover soon slipping from my grip. "From what I remember, those who once lived here had a duty to protect the Time Stone, guardians with just as much power as the Lord himself. I don't know why they would abandon this place and leave the Stone unguarded."