Clocksmith’s Secret

At the far end of a sleepy village, the clocksmith’s workshop glowed with lamplight night after night. The townsfolk simply assumed he was an old tinkerer obsessed with making elaborate cuckoo clocks and pocket watches that sang peculiar tunes at dawn. But behind his unassuming demeanor, he carried a burden that none suspected. For each gear and spring he assembled, there lay the faint imprint of a design hinting at something older—and far more potent—than any typical timepiece.

Occasionally, a traveler with a broken watch would arrive, guided by rumors that this craftsman could coax miracles from broken cogs. The clocksmith would vanish with the watch for hours, returning it with near-magical accuracy. Whispers circulated that the man was a caretaker for those who tiptoed beyond normal chronology, though none in the village claimed direct knowledge. They only noticed that the traveler always departed looking strangely relieved, as though a looming disaster had been quietly averted.

Late one evening, the clocksmith carefully unlatched a hidden drawer beneath his bench. Inside lay pieces of a half-forgotten relic—components shaped much like the rumored Keepers’ gear. He traced a finger over the etched runes, remembering how the watchers once meddled with entire eras. His workshop’s humility was a front, cloaking the fact that he alone might be able to rebuild a device linking them all. Outside, a soft breeze rattled the shutters, and he hid the fragments away again. Tomorrow, he’d fix a local farmer’s clock. But soon, if destiny knocked, he might have to admit that his “simple” hobby was, in truth, a quiet shield against deeper manipulations swirling just out of sight.

Micro stories are a content feature offered by $TIME's dev Woj. Handwritten and accompanied by art, they serve to deepen the story world we're creating here. Enjoy!