The Covenant Of Timeless Mysteries

(This chapter is undergoing revisions for tone adjustment and pacing)

Chapter 1 

「1819」*The first Epoch*

"Kid! Hurry! Wake up!" 

A searing heat bit into Hoku's leg, forcing him to stir.

"Hot…" Hoku mumbled, jolted half-awake by the burning pain.

"Of course it's hot! I can't carry you off like this. Stop mumbling and move!" a voice barked impatiently.

". . ." 

"Aish, you must be a log if you can sleep with your leg nearly cooked."

Hoku flinched as the weight of his body settled, and seemingly several voices bled together in his ears.

He felt a sudden tug on his arm, followed by the dull scrape of fabric against wood, before the heaviness in his limbs eased.

'A-am I being dragged?' Hoku groans, tossing himself onto his side.

Eventually, he retrieves enough consciousness to process other sounds—a grunt, and the subtle thud of a clunky mass colliding with the same surface. 

"Hm?" 

Hoku felt his hair drape over his ear before the back of his neck was grazed. 

"Don't!" A young man with short blonde hair stumbles over Hoku's leg, nearly falling to the ground.

The instant Hoku made eye contact with the stranger, he was struck by the young man's eye color.

His irises were the color of a storm cloud and his thick, golden eyebrows were one of many features that complimented his eyes.

He had the face of a dashing man, refined and elegant.

"Heaven's kid! I wasn't robbing you, I was trying to pull you away from the hearth," the young man tugs at a white neckerchief tied around his neck.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Hoku asks, bending his leg to scoot further from the man. 

"Why am I here? This is my house! I should be asking you that question."

The young man folds his arms behind his back and lightly chuckles. 

...Except he didn't.

He didn't even seem disturbed by Hoku. Rather, he kept a placid expression and even laughed.

'His house? Who would stay in a place like... this…' Hoku glanced around, suddenly feeling as though he had been struck in the stomach.

"You appear to have gone rigid, is there something wrong?" the stranger asks, raising his eyebrows.

'Is there something wrong??' His question left Hoku dumbfounded, prompting him to stare blankly before clearing his throat.

'What should someone say when they looked around a room that looms with possessions, visibly new?'

Hoku raised a hand to his forehead, pushing his bangs back and letting them fall just above the bridge of his nose.

'Just moments before, there had been nothing—only soot and walls that were softening.'

His eyes narrowed as he rubbed a hand down his chin, not uttering a single phrase.

"Sir?"

Concern drew the corners of his mouth into a frown.

'The stairs are in much the same structure, but quality-wise, everything is different. This is... indeed the same room... right?' Hoku's eyes fall discerningly below the staircase. 

A dark mahogany wooden door stands there, with quaint designs inscribed in the middle of two rectangular shapes that swell outward instead of inward like most doors. 

Most notable about this door, however, was the narrow crack between the hinges and frame. 

Despite the young man standing in front of the knob, Hoku was able to detect from the opposite side of the handle that the door was barely ajar. 

"I see you've finally woken up…have you gone insensible, or could it be that your mind is still jumbled?"

The man lowered his head and started mumbling, as he placed a hand below his chin, "Hm, that is only natural of course you needn't be too startled by this, they might return after-" 

"What happened to me?" Hoku asks, sparing the young man a direct glimpse while retaining a bit of regard toward the staircase that surrounded him from behind. 

"You're speaking! I assume you are curious about my dwelling if you've come all this way to break in." The man had a nearly dramatic English accent.

"What? No—I mean, I was looking for something earlier, but the manor was less…" Hoku peers around the room again, briefly detaching from the conversation. 

'How am I supposed to convince a stranger of such an absurd scenario?' Hoku worried, beyond perplexed by how it sounded even to himself.

"Less burned?" 

Hoku swiftly looked back in the young man's direction, slightly leaning forward. 

"Why has everything suddenly—changed?"

"I know roughly a margin more than likely, you do. Most of my additional knowledge is that I'm supposed to give some kid in a brown trench coat a watch."

Hoku pulled the tale of his coat over his lap and frowned, as the young man surveyed him.

He hummed in amusement before concluding, "It appears you closely match that description, no? What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

He fiddled with a button on his burnished vest, while remaining still near the door. 

"Hoku," he responds curtly. 

"Hoku? That's an unusual name indeed. I quite expected something else…" 

"What do you mean? What did you assume my name was?" Hoku asks, his expression carrying a hint of suspicion.

"There's no need to be skeptical. Simply, I've never heard of such a unique name. I suppose I should leave my home more." the young man says in a polite voice.

Hoku finds It nearly unsettling until he remembers he's sitting on the floor of a stranger's home. 

He hurriedly raised to his feet, and cleared his throat, attempting to rid the memory of his humiliating introduction. 

"Haha, I was wondering when you were going to stand up. I suppose you still felt faint in the head, take it easy for a bit." 

"What is your name then?" Hoku nods his head, veering to a different subject. 

"You may refer to me as Polaris," Polaris clears his throat, awkwardly shifting his gaze.

"Saying it aloud, I realize that I may also have an odd name," he added.

"Nothing to worry." Hoku assures.

"Is it possible for me to take my leave then? This is all very strange, I'm not sure how I will ever tell the story," he nervously jokes.

Polaris closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "You needn't worry.

For now, leaving isn't an option.

However, if you'd prefer, I can show you a way out."

Hoku's pulse quickened as he clenched his fist.

'His intentions couldn't be farther from clear,' he thought.

Yet, unexpectedly, he nodded and forced a smile. "I wouldn't mind, as long as I can leave safely."

Polaris gave a slight gesture, then motioned for Hoku to move toward the door behind him.

The wooden door's hinges creaked bitterly as he opened it, revealing a smaller set of steps.

As they descended, Hoku's gaze remained fixed on his hand, unease settling over him as it slid down the smooth cedar railing.

Moments later, they stood before another door. Polaris reached into his pocket and drew out a silver key.

He pushes it into the empty keyhole and it clicks after a short twist.

The door he unlocked appeared much different from the one above.

The wood was dingy, with greenish-blue blemishes sprawling from the bottom to the middle hinges. 

"I thought you were leading me into a wine chamber…" Hoku says, raising his chin to peek over Polaris's shoulder. 

"A wine chamber? More like a neglected study," Polaris responds, shoving the door open.

"After you," he says, shifting aside.

The moment Hoku stepped into the room, a particular and rather unpleasant scent invaded his nose.

'Exactly how long has it been since anyone set foot in this room? The room reeks of rust and stale cigarette smoke.'

Polaris closes the door and walks to the opposite side of the room, standing near a wall of bookcases.

After a moment, he casually adds, "You've probably noticed the scent. Just to reassure you, I don't smoke. The previous owner, though…"

Hoku remains quiet, nodding in acknowledgment. As his gaze sweeps the room, he notes the only semblance of order: the books, arranged by size.

The tallest ones stood against the side walls, while the smallest gathered in the center, an almost deliberate symmetry in the messiness.

Nevertheless, the entire room was coated in heaps of dust. 

"Now.. where did I place that box?" Polaris mutters, disappearing behind the ornate desk.

Its placement was unconventional. Hoku noted that most desks are tucked in a corner or at the back of a room. Yet this one stood at the center.

"I apologize for the state of things," Polaris says, rising and placing a hand on the edge of the desk. "Had I known we'd be having a guest, I might have made more of an effort to tidy up."

Hoku makes a brief, detached motion toward him. Polaris exhales, and his hand moves to the back of his neck as he tilts his head back.

Hoku briskly recognizes the faint tension in his posture.

"Do you mind assisting me with something? It won't take much of your time."

Hoku nods before walking around to the side of the desk to get a better view of its exterior.

"What is it?"

"A wooden box. I'm searching for a wooden box: small, obscurely plain, and made evidently without the guidance of a craftsman."

'...Craftsman?' 

"Would it be in this room?" Hoku asks, slipping his finger between the gaps of carved wood pillars that frame the desk's side.

"I would like to think so… but now I'm somewhat unsure. I thought I hid the watch behind these books. Could you look through the drawers in that bureau and check the shelves behind you?"

Polaris stands up, running his palm a few times over his pants to smooth the wrinkles.

"This?" Hoku asks, pushing the tip of his finger against the furniture until a shade of crimson bled under his fingernail.

As Polaris walks toward the door, he murmurs part of his reply, "I'll ensure I didn't leave it anywhere upstairs."

Hoku nods again, then turns to face the wall adjacent to him.

"Lastly, I know everything that belongs to this room, including the number of books, so don't pocket anything~"

Polaris is out of the room before Hoku can counter his presumptuous remark.

"Says you," Hoku grumbled, grasping the broken locket through his shirt. The cold metal grazes his skin beneath the cotton fabric.

His uncle had given it to him the day that he moved into his home.

With little explanation of its origin, Hoku didn't understand why he felt the need to keep it close to himself.

He let go after assuring himself it remained and began to amble around, scanning through everything in his sight.

Clutter occupied every crevice of the space; stacks of books were laid out against the walls with high shelves, empty glasses with remains of ink were tipped onto their sides, and a collection of potentially seven or eight hundred journals was inadequately scattered across various areas of the floor.

Crumbled papers were thrown into a corner, and noticeably kicked around.

Hoku curled his fingers around the rigid knobs framing the desk before crouching in front of the drawers.

Each one he attempted to pull open stayed latched into the frame, clicking into place whenever he tugged on the knob too hard.

After pulling on the third drawer, however, he realized there was a tiny almost, dot-sized hole below the knob.

'Keyholes? What kind of 'desk' drawers need a key?!'

Raising his head above the surface, Hoku helplessly peered through the slots.

Through the spaces, he saw a rigid object veiled by a tarp long enough to spread outwards at the end.

Hoku had the strange feeling that this broad rectangular structure, draped in dark red fabric, might have escaped his notice before.

'Could this be what I had originally-'

He stood to his feet and approached the object that was leaning against a broken easel.

As he reached for it, his fingers sank into the folds of the tarp and it slips from one of the sharp corners.

Though it merely falls enough to shorten the length of red hanging on the other side.

"Damn—it must be stuck on something."

"I found it! You can come, upstairs, kid. It seems I left it in the master!"

"Was it? Okay… I'm coming up then."

Hoku presses his lips into a line, allowing his fingers to slide down the tarp.

'I'll just ask about it to see it.'

He approaches the door, peering back at the tall object before leaving the room.

The space between the walls that secure the stair railing is narrow and poorly painted.

It felt like walking into the original 'present'; everything below the house was grotty, offering the impression of a homestead abandoned after a snowstorm.

As light poured in from the doorway, Hoku kept his eyes on the steps and gradually expanded over the plank steps.

As he neared the top, he suddenly paused.

His pupils widened at the sight of a hazy silhouette, splitting the light into fractured beams.

"Huh?" He frowned, squinting forward.

A thin black cat crouched at the top of the stairs, its green eyes glinting coldly.

Hoku paused, one foot lingering on the stair behind him as he quietly fixed his gaze on the frail creature.

He ascended another step, and calmly murmured, "...Cheshire?"