The Aftermath

17. The Tower

(POV: Plug)

In the centre of Evershade Valley was one of its more distinctive features. It's fair to say that it took me a while to realise that it hadn't always existed. And so I can say with clarity that it is one of the biggest changes to Evershade Valley following Luigi's last visit.

The clocktower was built to watch over all of Evershade Valley and recognise the progression of time in the outside world. At the very top of the grey tower was the time and date projected to us by an electrical screen.

I presume the professor wanted to reassure himself about how old he was since there's no easy way to count the days without the power of technology, something he seems very familiar with. Maybe he wanted us to have a greater understanding of time, too. I can't say for sure, though.

However, I can say one key thing about the tower, which I remembered well. There was a particular ghost who lived there; Sir Reginald Clocksworth was a mighty fine fellow who I used to know very well. In fact, he was the first person who I ever spoke to in my entire existence, a not so long time ago.

*Flashback*

"Hello!" He cheered merrily as I curiously wandered around the tower, perplexed by my own existence. He wore a tall purple upon his golden head as his eyes smiled at me. The essence of joy which surrounded him gave me no choice but to smile.

"Welcome to Evershade Valley!" He bellowed out, rising upwards. I slowly managed to manipulate my body to, too, move upwards. We reached the peak of the tower and he and I embraced the views of the dark kingdom which settled below.

"I-" I began, trying to form a sentence together. He looked towards me and smiled.

"Don't you worry, chap. We've got time." He laughed, somersaulting back into the tower. I followed him in a much less elegant manner. But who was he? Why was he being so nice to me?

"I am Sir Reginald Clocksworth!" He announced to me, smiling most wonderfully. I took this opportunity to examine him further. In his left eye was a rotating gear, rusted orange. Additionally, he was suited in a lilac suit, cobalt buttons running down its centre, accompanied with a bowtie which sat neatly at his neck which, too, had a gear upon it - though this gear seemed more polished and had a pink button which had been placed within its core.

And so there he was before me. The kindest (and only) ghost I had ever come across. He opened his hand in front of me as if to invite my hand to combine into an interlock. And thus I followed suit. Upon my motion, he pulled me down deeper into the tower. Rooms flashed before me much too fast to make anything out; blurs of blue, black, turquoise, pink and all of the other colours which I hadn't quite recognised the names for yet.

Eventually, we stopped with a halt. He grabbed me by the shoulders. "So, who are y o u?" He asked me in the intense position he had placed himself into. I darted my eyes to the corners of the room. This ghost had been so kind to me, but I didn't quite understand what it was that he wished for me to say. For I was just a ghost. Why should a simple ghostlike me have a name?

Seeing me clear confusion, he let me go and looked towards a wall. I, too, looked in that same direction only to see a blank space. There was nothing; it was very hard to describe. If I had stepped through, I would wonder whether or not I could return from the endless nothingness which I was presented with. "You mustn't be fooled by your mind, my ghost." He lectured me in a serious, almost sad tone. I raised my eyebrows in query. "Every ghost is formed with one purpose." He explained, grief in his voice.

"What is that?" I asked him, innocently. He laughed and turned his head towards mine.

"Why should we care? Your life is yours now; your purpose is yours to choose. Your identity belongs to you. Find it." He explained with enthusiasm. He smiled at me. "You'll figure it out." In a flash, he was gone.

"But-"