The Breaking of Time

The knock came at midnight, right after the moment when the clock rings in the new day. I chose to ignore it, my hands busy working skillfully on the ring I was engraving. The words were unknown to me, just as they were for everybody else, but I felt as though I had a special connection to them. As I worked I could feel the surging power growing with each letter I burned into the silver. Then, when the energy was at its highest, I made the final stroke, letting my hand fall and my eyes take in the masterpiece I had created.

A second knock. I took my pocket watch out and examined the time. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since the first knock. I stood up, brushed my hands on my work apron and went to the door. Who ever was on the other side was patient, and that was worth rewarding.

I opened the door and instantly wished I hadn't. The woman standing before me, her snow white hair pulled back and her emerald eyes burning, held out her hand to me. I stepped through the doorway and pulled her to me, embracing her with the pain of a three decade absence. 

She pulled away and looked up at me, her eyes searching for something in my own. "I'm sorry," she said simply. "I wish I could off held summoning you, but it cannot be delayed any longer."

"The end times rage, and somewhere out there and the world is waiting with baited breath for me to come out of my hiding spot so it can swallow up time forever, is that it?" I asked, already knowing it to be true before she nodded.

"I cannot...I cannot tell you anything beyond that," she struggled for words, and I could hear the tears in her voice as she continued. "My own time is coming, but someone came to me this night, telling me that I needed to set in motion the ring maker."

"And where does this ring maker need to go?" I asked, wishing I could have done anything to take the hideous look of despair off her face. "What would you have me do?" I whispered.

"Find her, the one who can save this world. She's out there, I know it. But you need to find her," she said desperately. "She is the only hope."

"She can save you too, nothing is set in stone," I told her. 

"No, I'm going to die," she said with a strange confidence. "I'm not scared, I know it's going to happen. My death, my dear, is fixed."

I smiled despite myself. "You aren't supposed to know that."

She smiled too, a smile that illuminated the night. "I know, but I was never one for following the rules, now was I?"

"No." We both stood there for a moment, letting memories and emotions settle between us, making it hard to say good-bye. "Is this the last time we'll meet?" I asked, almost frightened to have my question answered.

"Yes, for me." She replied, then she backed away. "But you still have a mission ahead of you, and me to look forward to. Oh, the times we'll have." she looked at me one last time, the beautifully sad expression on her face becoming the strongest image I will ever have of her. Every moment we shared, every time we fought against time together, was held there. 

"Promise me something, will you?"She asked hastily, an after thought that was almost forgotten.

"Anything." I breathed, waiting for her request.

"Place a yellow rose on my grave," she said, barely loud enough for me to hear her, and then, with nothing more than a whisper in the wind, she was gone.

I stood there, in my doorway, for the longest time, my eyes seeing nothing and everything in the early morning. Just as the dawn was coming over the horizon, I looked one last time at the spot where my snow haired girl had stood for the last time.

"I promise, I promise to find her, I promise the yellow rose, and I promise to save you." I said to her, hundreds of years away. "I promise I will rewrite time for you."