A WORLD’S TOLL
TRAPPED BETWEEN TIME
By
Kimberly Spark
PUBLISHED BY
A World’s Toll
Trapped Between Time
Copyright © 2012 by Kimberly Spark
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE - The Calling
CHAPTER TWO - The Reaction
CHAPTER THREE - Error
CHAPTER FOUR - Amaria
CHAPTER FIVE - The Departing Dream
CHAPTER SIX - The Encounter
CHAPTER SEVEN - The Unknown Train
CHAPTER EIGHT - Fate
CHAPTER NINE – Resolved
CHAPTER ONE
THE CALLING
The bells were not yet at a toll, everyone was already in except for one girl. Rushing thru the door came Mia Emitmai, the most impulsive girl the school has ever known. Always coming in late, claiming that she is “10 seconds early,” Sr. Williams, their homeroom teacher was terribly annoyed, and asked her to just pipe down and be quiet.
“RING!!!” rang the bells, declaring lunch break. Two girls sat under the old oak tree, discussing random stuff just to kill time.
“Why don’t you buy a watch?” Mia’s best friend asked.
She thought about it for a while, but Mia knew that watches don’t look good on her, and who even needs a watch… runs thru her mind. Her money was running low; she had holes in her pocket! Suddenly, as if hypnotized, she heard an alluring sound coming from the grass; she looked, there appeared a violet dragonfly. Its colour was like no other, with wings like crystal glistening in the sunlight. It flew through the air just as fast as a jet.
School went by as usual, with nothing really much to do; Mia looked out the window hoping for something new. Suddenly the same dragonfly passed by her sight. The school bells rang in the most unexpected time, Mia then wondered if the odd dragonfly had something to do with this. Outside, more appeared before her eyes, she was even more curious why no one had noticed. More and more came yet no one seemed to mind them. Suddenly, they all disappeared, not knowing where they went.
Mia searched around the school, to where the odd dragonflies might have gone. She went to the library to look it up, yet none were a match. This made her more curious, but she wouldn’t like to be the cat that got killed out of curiosity, so she just left it as if nothing happened.
The odd phenomenon did not stop. At the end of the day there were even more. She quickly ran inside a mall to avoid these mystical creatures. Inside the mall, Mia saw an old lady selling watches. She remembered what her friend had told her and decided to buy one herself.
With no hesitation Mia asked how much was the cheapest. The old lady just chuckled and said it was free. The old lady showed her the watch full of detailed carvings. Surprised as she was, the old lady also told her that the watch had its own magic working miracle… that it would run forever, no batteries needed! That only the gears inside it would make it tick till the end. With such words Mia immediately made the watch her own.
As dear Mia slept, the ticks of the watch grew louder and louder. Not knowing she was going to meet her fate…
CHAPTER TWO
THE REACTION
The next day, Mia woke up bright and early, and headed for school right away. She wanted to set the seconds of her watch exactly the same as the one in school. When she pulled the crown to adjust the time, it was suddenly dead silent, like an angel had just passed by. She looked up to check and in that instant, the seconds have stopped ticking. Mia turned around with a sight not so familiar; no one was moving…but her.
Mia thought very hard on what could have caused this, and came up with a theory… that it could be the watch’s doing. And so she ran all the way back to the old lady, and there she stood, moving, while everyone was not. The old lady then explained how the watch works, that with the pull of its crown… time stops. But that is all that it can do, you cannot adjust the time, for it has its own timeline recognition.
The old lady also said that the maximum time to “freeze time,” was 30 minutes. Go beyond that, and you wouldn’t want to know. The old lady then asked how long she had been in frozen time. With those words, Mia immediately pushed the crown.
A by-standing officer asked her why she wasn’t at school, seen in her obvious school uniform. Mia then thought that she would be late again but then, she said,
“No, I won’t be late.”
Before the officer could say another word, Mia vanished without a trace.
And once again, just before the bells were at a toll, rushing thru the doors came a voice screeching, “I’M NOT LATE!!!” Sr. Williams was very amused to see the once late, early or at least on time. To hide his amusement he remained in silence. Later on, Sr. Williams introduced a new classmate; “Martin T. Seams”. After the introduction, the tolls of the bells were finally heard.
CHAPTER THREE
ERROR
“We will be having a pop-quiz today!” with words so alarming, the room fell into panic left and right. There was some protesting, since it was only indeed the second day of school. Everyone stared at the paper in front of them, not knowing what to answer. Minutes passed, and with each moment’s swing, nothing was to be heard but the tick of the clock. Everyone’s mind was empty, full of nothingness, except for two. At a sudden tick of the clock’s gears, Mia stood up finished with her test. But she was not the only one who stood among the rest; Martin also stood to pass his paper.
Everyone’s faces were full of shock, for there were two gods who were able to get the miracle answer. In that magic second an incredible movement was made in just a split of a second, “Someone” cheated.
As it turned out, it was merely a test of stock knowledge to select those who were able to answer the question to represent the school in various competitions. Time passed by and with each and every win, Martin grew curious of Mia’s great intelligence. There came even a time that The Department of Education thought of even banning the two from ever competing again.
The school didn’t want this, they just wanted to keep winning and winning and winning… So they would let the two at least lose once, and they did. At school the next day they had a test, Mia thought of using her “trick” again but this time something went wrong.
They were supposed to answer questions about an incredibly long story, 226 pages long. Supposedly Mia should have read the story beforehand, and then take the test but she forgot. And that is not all that she has forgotten…
As usual she pulled the crown once more to stop time and read the story. After all the reading was done, she pushed the crown back in… but nothing happened, she tried pushing it harder, but alas it was all the same, nothing changed.
The air was suddenly filled with floating droplets of water emerging from the eyes of Mia.
“It had to come to this? Why! Why? Why…?” she cried as if forsaken, not noticing the floating water in front of her.
The droplets now fell onto the table where Mia sat. Quietly whispering was someone from the back.
“Mia,” someone called out her name. She turned around to look and there a face so new, “Martin?” “You went beyond the limit Mia…” with those words, Martin disappeared like the wind. Mia screeched out with all her sorrow, “Don’t leave me, don’t desert me, I don’t want to be left alone…” but only the ghost of time heard her.
Answers were nowhere to be found. For days she roamed the lifeless town. Her teardrops flooded the ground, it was like raining cats and dogs. She looked up, to the sky so blue and remembered what she had, before she lost it all. She remembered all her friends, her family and her life, for th
ey are now forever gone.
Mia thought very hard for a solution out of this madness, but in the end she just cried, for there was nothing she could do. Her sorrow grew great, for nothing could take its place, not anymore.
“Why do you cry?” a voice suddenly spoke. In front of her was a girl in blue, with gems that adorned her, and eyes so green like glimmering emerald stones. Mia did nothing but stare in shock. “Thud,” a sound came from behind, and the girl went gasping away. She went into the water where she once came, at the edge of the girl’s final dive; there were no feet, but a tail dashing sea-water blue.
Droplets fell in the air moving slowly like a graceful dance, about to form something before it collapsed due to the unbelievable, unnoticeable movement of Martin T. Seams. He touched the water with the soles of his shoes; he was literally standing on water! Martin smiled and chuckled with a stupendous aura,
“Would you like to try?” he held out his hand.
Mia felt hypnotized as she was the butterfly attracted to the sweet nectar in the mist of day. She walked towards the water of the lake, a swift breeze brought her up, and for a moment, she was floating.
Like a butterfly, she flutteringly landed on the water so blue, and twirled around with the dancing flower all around the dew.
“It feels like magic, nothing I’ve ever experience before.”
CHAPTER FOUR
AMARIA
Martin looks at her smiling, full of joy, even so little… it somewhat makes him happy. He quietly lets go of her hand, the splash above the water made hundreds of water marbles appear in the air. The butterfly now falls into an endless deep. “But why does it go deeper?” she now begins to question herself even though she knew how to swim.
Smiling from above, was Martin T. Seams. He jumps down into the lake, to catch the beloved pearl. By the touch of his hand they suddenly stopped in mid water. Mia still struggling, Martin smiled and got a golden ball from his pocket and threw it into the abyss. The word, “Atlantis” was engraved on the golden ball itself.
Out of the darkness came a rapid stream of water, and with it, a spark of light came too. Two beautiful mermaids appeared before them, they pressed the word “Atlantis” on the ball and a stream of water came out from the ball and into Martin and Mia’s mouths.
Mia couldn’t take it anymore. She felt like her life was hanging on a thread. Not likely to kick the bucket just yet, she inhaled deeply, and to her surprise nothing happened. She could breathe underwater!
The two Aquas grabbed them for a trip through the same current that brought the Aquas there. In front of them stood two gates made of pure gold. The Aquas blew two bubbles of multi-coloured light. The bubbles then became a small orb of light. The strange yet wonderful light went through the middle of the gate, and the golden gates opened like magic. Lo and behold, the Kingdom of Amaria.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE DEPARTING DREAM
Inside they went; surprisingly it wasn’t water-filled like an aquarium. Everyone else had feet, no tails. Mia looked at the other two Aquas that brought them here and to her surprise they had feet. Mia was confused, very confused! She started acting weird and stuff because she didn’t understand what was going on. Martin as usual just laughed in silence and explained to her that going through the barrier instantly dries you up! Mia only now notices that they’re also dry. The reaction on her face makes Martin happy.
“Welcome to Amaria, The World of the Aquas,” said their queen, Queen Liora Pristina.
The sight in front of them was rather “spectacular”. The sky of Amaria was split into two. One dyed in black-blue where comets ruled the sky from above, falling into a deep well, and coming out again. The other sky was simply amazing, with a sky of a clear blue ocean, drops fell on the ground of sweet, sweet syrup.
Everything below the sky of the clear blue ocean, were simply coloured in bright blue. It was also known to be the Nobles’ side. The other side of Amaria was dyed in brilliant red, above it was the sky of comets; it was also known to be the place of the non-nobles. In the middle was a train, riding on floating water with rails of disappearing light. Mystery of where it goes, since none could reach its height.
The Queen welcomed them warmly. Amaria had never seen technology, but “Magic” was always present in the air. Magic here is presented as something even they could not explain, like the mysterious train that had long existed even before the first Aqua. Shadows can be seen aiding the Nobles, for at their side… there is light.
There exists in their world a light pen. It could write in air with ink made from the blood of the flying dragonflies around the place. The palace was grandiose. There were no stairs; instead they used huge bubbles as elevators. On the ceiling was water, with fishes swimming about. They had doors that could transport you to a totally different place but maybe you’ll get lost in between. And when there is light, shadows appear, playing, dancing as if they had two-left feet.
Coming out of nowhere were a billion cats, for the King had returned. All the cats swept through Mia’s feet and Mia felt cold feet, even though the cats were really warm. Martin just kept laughing, finding enjoyment in Mia’s disgust. Mia was angry so she grabbed a cat and placed it into his big laughing mouth. But to her surprise, the cat went through him and even started to float! She was so shocked and terrified! She had never seen anything like it!
The King saw it and burst into laughter. He ordered all the cats to go to their room at once. Each and every little kitten went into a big bubble and got transported away. Mia was still frustrated, because she hated cats but Martin found it quite enjoyable for he was a sadist.
The shadows came running in shouting, “Its lunch time!” and proceeded to the door. But it wasn’t a door at all; it was a large water fall that would split in the middle whenever it was the hour of eating. On the other side of the waterfall was a large buffet. All the food would jump on your plate every time you would push its designated button. The spoons and forks came alive as they would scoop everything for you. You just needed to put the food in your mouth I guess.
The tables and chairs were floating. It was as if you were eating on air itself. Maybe you would even feel like Alice in Wonderland. Everyone was enjoying their meal and Mia had so much fun! As she never thought things like this to be even real…
After lunch, Martin brought Mia to the top of the Palace. The roof was flat so you could easily walk on it. There were a lot of machineries that only Martin knew how to use, for he had the key, the Golden Ball of Atlantis. And with the right combination, the ball was covered in scales. He placed it in the flying contraption and wings came out of the machine.
From there, they flew around Amaria. When they reached the other side of Amaria, the machine glowed in vibrant red. They tried to go beyond the borders, but everything crumbled down slowly then there was nothing. They continued on flying and the Nobles’ side appeared once more. “Small World,” Martin commented. Sooner or later, the ball lost its power and they began to fall. For a while it was fun but when they were about to reach the bottom, to Mia’s surprise, the bottom was like jelly. They kept bouncing and bouncing all the way back to where they came from.
In the land of the non-nobles, they painted the town red. Everything was free anyway because they were guests of the Queen. The new kids on the block made it their red lettered day. Shared some smiles, with the laughter and the joy…
“Maybe now the dream will be tarnished by the one who once wanted to achieve it in the first place,” whispered the Queen from afar.
CHAPTER SIX
THE ENCOUNTER
The night was still young, and so were they. For what the two shared was even warmer than the other side of its world. Mia asked how he was able to know so much of this place. Martin replied that when he was a mere child he could stop time instantly even without a device. One day he tried to walk on water, and just like her, he fell. When he woke up, he was already in Amaria; the Queen gave him the Ball of Atlantis so whenever he ma
y need help from this kingdom, it shall be given. Ever since that time, he kept practicing how to float on water, and one day he was able to do it flawlessly; and thus, creating a lot of time to learn about the World of Amaria.
While looking outside the window of which the two shared, hundreds of purple dragonflies appeared similar to what Mia saw the other day. Out of curiosity, Mia followed them and of course dear Martin too. With each step through the paths they went, up and down the caverns of Amaria, not knowing that their footsteps left marks on the ground, forming a giant pocket watch, and with the last step a closed door opened.
The ruins were old, shadows lit the torches and with their steps the shadows ran inside. The walls inside felt like a snake, it went left then right then left again. At the edge of the tail was a blocked passage with only a dent with different layers of shapes.
“It looks like a watch,” said Martin.
Mia pushed her watch into the dent and turned it and the walls behind them started clashing. Panicking, they tried to find a way to avoid getting crushed, but in the end they were squished into thin juice and went down an extremely long slide.
In the darkness, they went down with a feeling of thrill, soon it was light.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE UNKNOWN TRAIN
“Ticket please,” the man in front of them asked.
Martin said he didn’t have a ticket, but the man said that he has one in his pocket. Martin knows that there is nothing in his pocket but the golden ball. In the small trapped room, coloured in multiple shades of violet, he hesitantly placed his hand in his pocket. He felt… something paper-like and it was true! It was indeed a golden ticket! The man grabbed it and punched multiple holes just like in the old times.