CRIMSON ROTH

Chapter 9 - Behind Curtains

There are many great aliens in this vast universe. Some were scary, others were rather pleasant, then there were the small ones, big fellas and them changeable lot. But nothing... nothing!- can be compared to the ferocious race of the Equilibri.

Their name explained it: to keep their world in balance and prosperity. By that, they meant karma- to both have equal levels of punishments. Equality. Balance. Equilibrium. The species itself was just impressive! How their minds explain about their reasons so easily- it was like a child convincing his or her parents to buy a new toy. It was just so... easy for them. And that was the birth of their manipulative nature and characteristics.

But all this chaos? The reason why Crimson and Jake are now stuck in a never-ending adventure? Because of them; the Equilibri. Manipulative people are known to manipulate others, but the uncommon fact also resides that people who are just so ordinary- and seems so ordinary- can manipulate those who were manipulative.

It all started in the 'Building' of the Doomsday Clock ten billion millennia ago.

It was like the dark ages when one did not know who to trust. But all of that was in the hands of Time. To them- the workers, builders, architects and the bunch of the other lot- Time was a boss looking over the work being done like a tourist looking down at the sea from Boston Harbor. The sea of color changed like the direction of the winds- so fast yet so vibrant.

Inside a small house of stone and pillar, lie a round marble table. Glitenium wasn't very popular back in the days. Marble and stone were the ones that reigned supreme in the world of building. The chairs were made out of finely-carved granite and the other furniture were mostly built with sandstone and chalk, which were easy to dispose.

And- though in the day they were empty- in the night, the chairs would be filled with those of the many species, chattering and chittering about their day- boring and strict and messy and whatnot as usual. One would talk how an Argeroyce broke their Intergalactic Telecom System (ITS) by accident, or some Dentorax would complain how useless the little Boggeleys were to their work; just staring off into the distant with their round brown eyes stuck onto little green bodies of jelly.

Once it was the start of the meeting, no one but Time could speak first. It was the rule- the rule that had stated itself even before Time came into this world. That's why Time knows what'll happen. Time speaks first before you even react! The rule passes through the generations of this universe, one after the other. And it's only been like that.

But why this very specific chapter would talk about a dozen or so aliens, a marble table, odd furniture and a Doomsday Clock is because, as the chapter has said, it marks the change of history. The change of aliens. The change of Time.

Once the room had silence after the noticeable cough of Time, said Time, "Hello, my fellow allies, aliens and all-the-way friends. Welcome to today's great meeting." Time smiled. Time did not have any title of he, she or even it. Time was a non-being and rather... label-less. "I am extremely happy for you all to attend the meeting today. First, we are going for every species' Spokesalien to tell us about their current progress on their contributions to our big project." A pause. "And I'll have some very interesting announcements to make."

At once, a chortle and cheer from ever side echoed. Time always had made the announcements exciting and rather entertaining. Once the noise died down, the first alien- a Western Dentorax Spokesalien stood up, it's buff grey body and glossy eyes attracted the whole room- growled, "Our ultimate Glitenium shippings are going extraordinarily well. Soon enough, we'll have enough material to build the challenges so that anyone who dares-" the alien gave a menacing smile- "to defy the Clock... shall meat their doom." An applause rang from the colorful batch of Extraterrestrial Beings.