1 Forbidden by time

The cool breeze from the open window brushed against his pale cheeks, seeming to clear his head. Noah leaned against the windowsill of his bedroom hoping to clear out his mind. The wind relieved him of his pain. From the aching in his chest that he would feel whenever he saw the world outside the orphanage. A developed world where buildings and factories were all lined next to each other. Junkyards, bars and small apartment blocks all blocked your view from the natural world. It was the future, the future that everyone predicted. The one with smoke and pollution in the air and the one where robots "ruled" the world.

Noah would always look through his window and see the androids walking along the streets. His eyebrows furrowed and he slumped in his chair. He missed the times before all this… before the robots took away all he loved, including his parents. Resentment was the only thing that lingered in his mind the whole time. It had been 4 years and the feeling stayed the exact same.

He closed his eyes and had a flashback to a memory of the past.

It was his 10th birthday. The scene was Noah sitting at the table spread with food, waiting for his parents to show up. Outside was dark and the Winter snow could be seen falling. Many hours had passed as Noah looked out the window in anticipation, waiting for his parent's car to show up in the driveway, and yet, it was empty.

There was a faint knock on the door which he thought was his parents. Immediately, he bolted towards the handle, ready to jump into the arms of his mother and father but unfortunately, life kicks in.

At the door stood an old man with white hair and golden-rimmed glasses that were perched on his nose. He looked solemn and he spoke with a sympathising tone.

"Are you Noah Bennett?"

Noah sighed and nodded lightly, "Yes."

The old man looked at him even more solemnly, "Noah. Y-your parents are no longer going to be with you. You will be sent to an orphanage near h-"

The young boy could only stand there in shock and stutter, "W-what happened to them?"

At that moment, the old man didn't know what to say. The boy was only 10 years old and his parents had both died without being able to say goodbye.

With a sigh, he could only reply, "You're mother and father… They were working on a project. That is, to build an android… a robot. However, their plan failed and were instead attacked by the robot and killed. I'm afraid… they are never coming back."

The words "never coming back" lingered in his mind even until this day. Noah slammed the windows shut and dragged the curtains roughly. The memory remained in his mind and he could not forget it this time. He jumped into bed and cried himself to sleep, holding onto the only memento from his mother and father left; a necklace with a cube pendant. The cube was intricate, with patterns and lines carved into it. On one side was a clock. It wasn't noticeable but stood out from the rest of the patterns. Noah clenched onto it tighter as the glistening tears dripped from the corner of his eye.

---

Morning had come and the bright sun shone through the curtains. Noah quickly woke up and saw the necklace had fallen on the floor. In a panic, he grabbed the necklace and brought it to his chest. Out of nowhere, a soft voice started to shout out of nowhere.

"Let go of me!!! Let me breathe!!!"

Noah went back into his bed in fear of the mysterious voice. He looked around. There was no one there.

"In the necklace dummy!", the voice shouted angrily again.

He immediately let go of the necklace and saw it was glowing a golden light. He backed away from the necklace and froze when he heard the female voice once again.

"Scaredy cat! It's not like I'm going to hurt you… I mean I can't. I am literally a necklace right now."

Noah flinched. Slowly he began to regain his composure and was able to stutter, "W-who are you? W-why are you in my mother's necklace?"

"Shouldn't you be introducing yourself first? So nice of yo-"

"Answer the question!"

There was a silence for a while. Noone could utter a single word and Noah was still hugging his knees staring at the "magical" necklace.

Finally, the necklace responded, "My name is Hylia, the goddess of time. Nice to meet you… As for why I'm in your mother's necklace… I'm not really sure myself!" Hylia laughed awkwardly.

"B-but isn't Chronos the god of time? I've never heard of Hylia…"

Hylia was furious, "I was trapped in this necklace by Chronos! He was my brother. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop himself from getting jealous of my power. So, he trapped me in this cube and has taken over my title as god of time. He is speeding up the timeline and not letting time pass naturally. Soon the human world that father has created will become what you mortals like to say, "F***ed".

Noah giggled. "Technically, you're not really meant to say that…"

"I've been in this damn necklace for too long I honestly don't know what people say anymore", Hylia argued.

Noah was no longer scared of the necklace and got used to talking to it. It seemed weird that he was talking to an inanimate object but now that he found out he was talking to the goddess of time, it felt less weird but very dreamlike.

In the silence, Hylia spoke up. "You still haven't told me your name yet!"

"Noah… Bennett… So um, Hylia, how are you going to free yourself from the cube?"

Hylia had a long think and sighed. "Noah, you will need to help me. As I am trapped in this necklace, my powers are limited and I cannot actually fight. To free me, you must travel through 6 different time periods and kill the filthy underlings of my evil brother, Chronos. When you defeat each one, I will be able to use my powers and travel to the next time period until we reach… Chronos himself. At that time, you must kill him and my curse will be broken and I will be free! So what do you say, will you help me?"