I N T E R L U D E : time's trinity

There's something beautiful about the darkness.

In the way where objects become figures of mystery, and how the unknown tickles the intrigue of an individual.

I find myself wallowing in darkness, wondering if I'm stuck in some sort of dream I can control. No sounds serenade my ears nor sights to satisfy the needs of my eyes. Nothing at all accompanies me in this eerie, quiet space.

But I wish something did.

As soon as that thought crosses my mind, a dim flame ignites in front of me, the colors red, orange and a small bit of blue reflecting its dance in my eyes. An urge not of my own draws my hand out, fingers itching to grasp this burning light. As much as I try to control my own body, I just can't. It's as if I'm tied to a puppet master's strings, dancing idiotically for the sole purpose of entertaining a sadist's imagination.

Once my fingers grasp the burning flame, I notice that it doesn't singe my hand like it should. Nor does it draw forth any pain. Instead, the flame only grows, the light intensifying until it turns the whole room into the colors of Hell. A small orb-like being appears in front of me, and I squint my eyes just to look directly at it.

"A young lady," the orb speaks, startling me to the ground.

"What the hell—"

"Oh, and a crude one, too," the voice giggles. Its sound doesn't sit well in my ears, only because it sounds too airy, melodic, and innocent to mean good intentions. It's high-pitched, too, and sounds like Snow White from that one Disney movie.

I heighten my senses and solidify my guard. "Where am I? Who are you? What—" My voice falters, eyes observing the floating orb. "W-What are you?"

The voice giggles once more, sounding like an old and proper lady. "How adorable. I already know I'm going to enjoy you." Her words roll out of her like poisoned chocolate, her mockery singing my skin more than the flame did.

I don't like her.

"Answer the question," I demand. The feeling of idiocy soon crosses me as I realize I'm talking to air.

"You have some spirit, child," the voice replies. A gust of wind tousles my hair, and I feel chilling hands grasp my shoulders. Someone's breath licks the tips of my ears. "I like you, Mielle."

I widen my eyes, shaking off that uncomfortable feeling away. "How do you know—"

"Your name?" She finishes. I hear hands clasp, although I see none. "Well, I'm the keeper of Time. Of course I know the names of everyone who has lived in this world."

My face cringes in response. "The hell?" I scoff. "Keeper of Time, my ass. What are you role playing here?"

"Hmm, you're quite different from the last user," the voice says, her orb soon shifting into a bright silhouette of a woman. I freeze as this enormously gigantic lady walks towards me and towers over my small body with an innocent kind of intimidation. "She was willing to believe this absurdity. But you seem to be the polar opposite."

I shake my head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I see her cheeks rise into a smile. "Oh, that's quite alright, Mielle. I'm going to explain it to you anyway, along with the rules."

"R-Rules?"

"Yes, darling." She taps the tip of my nose as if I'm a child. "Now, let's begin with the Tale of Trinity. Have you ever heard of that story?"

Again, my head shakes in confusion.

"Well, then," she begins, her silhouette smirking, "I shall show it to you."

Instantly, the colors of red and orange that surround us disappear with one blast of a radiating white light, replacing it with the sight of a small village of dilapidated houses and broken cobblestone roads. I find myself staring at the midst of village activity, people dressed in Ancient Greek clothes walking past me as if my existence didn't exist.

I turn to the lady beside me whose being is still a faceless, silhouette of light.

"Where are we?" I dare ask.

"The Gifted One's village," she responds. Her hand grabs mine, and I am violently whisked away through the wind, strong gusts slapping my face and a hurricane resulting from our travel. "This is where the story begins, Mielle. The story of Trinity's locket."

Trinity's locket—

Locket.

Suddenly, the memories prior to my blackout resurface. I furrow my brows as I try to rationalize the situation then and the one I'm in now. But I'm only left more confused than ever before.

The woman stops abruptly inside a house of a small, gorgeous orphan girl, her hair tangled in knots and attire tattered and marked with poverty's crest. My eyes travel to the girl's hands as they play with a stick and flint. Nothing but those two objects alongside a thin piece of blanket occupy the house, and it makes me wonder how this beautiful, fragile girl was able to survive all on her own.

"This is Trinity," the woman beside me explains. "She is the Gifted One, marked by the Goddess of Existence, Evie, as one of her mortal favorites. She's gifted with beauty, brain, and brawn, hence her given name. Although she may not look like it, the child is incredibly strong."

For once, I keep my inquisitive mouth shut and just listen to what the woman beside me has to say. With one move of her hand, the scene switches, cutting like two scenes from a movie, and the Trinity girl now stands before a shrouded woman in the same tattered clothes as her. Her face is obscured by a covering, and her eyes disappear with the darkness of the night.

"As compensation for being so pure in a world that has long been defiled," the light woman next to me continues, "the Goddess Evie grants her the power to control time as she pleases. She is given the ability to move through the past and future centuries with the locket that is blessed by the Goddess' touch. As long as she is in possession of the locket, she can use the locket's properties for as long as she likes."

I watch as the shrouded woman places the necklace around the little girl's neck, tapping her nose afterwards.

"However, there are rules to the Goddess' gift." Again, the scene changes, revealing the little girl to be slightly older. She stands in an alleyway, glancing over her shoulder to a group of children playing. A sad yet envious expression paints her face.

"Rule number one," the Keeper of Time begins, "is that the girl is prohibited from indulging in human experiences. That includes celebrations, friendships, and…" Her voice falters, making my head turn to face her. "Love."

My eyes return to the small child before the scene changes once more. This time, the girl appears to be an adolescent, her beauty becoming much greater than it was as a kid.

Again, she waits by the alley, but soon after she is joined by an unknown man. He's tall, dark, and quite appealing to the eye. As soon as he arrives, he takes the girl by the waist and pulls her in for a passionate kiss, the two melting away into a lover's bliss.

"However, children never listen, do they?" The light woman chuckles, her voice a bit strained. "Because of the rules the Goddess had given her, the loneliness Trinity felt deep down consumed her, causing her to rebel and search for someone to love her. But her disobedience caused her a great deal—" The scene darkens and now the girl is sprawled on the floor before the feet of a golden woman, tears streaming down her face— "And as her punishment, the Goddess Evie condemns her to an eternal punishment in the Middle of Time, a void space in this world where time never runs yet the world continues to spin anyway. It's a place as terrifying and undesirable as Hell because no matter how fast Trinity runs to catch up to the world's time, she is stuck in her own forever. She is stuck in a world where time freezes."

The world around me darkens, and all that is left is me and the lady of light before me.

"With her entrapment, she loses the locket," she continues. "And because she lost it, she could never again travel to the past nor the future."

"But what happened to the locket?" My curiosity asks.

"It has been lost to the hands of mortals," the lady answers. "It's properties unknown to them until an intelligent and witty girl discovered it. That girl was your predecessor, Mielle. The first user."

Although this is all ludicrous and ridiculous to me, her words make me wonder.

How the hell did Grandpappy get this magical necklace in the first place?

The woman holds out her hand, revealing the very locket that Grandpappy showcased to me the night I visited his study.

"This is Trinity's locket," the woman explains. "There can only be three users in total that can use its properties, and you, Mielle, are its third user. No one but you can hold its powers. And once you're three attempts in traveling are up, the properties of the object will cease to exist."

She hands me the locket, and I stare at its silver figure, still unwilling to believe all of this.

"How… How did I become a user?" I ask, looking up at her faceless countenance for answers. "All I did was hold it. Grandpappy gave it to me and told me to read the inscription inside. How did I—"

"There are two requirements to be Trinity's user," the woman explains, holding up one finger. "One, you must have an incredible desire to escape from the reality of your present." She holds up a second finger. "And two, you must have something that you are searching for that cannot be found in the present."

A desire to escape the present and the search of finding something that's not in my time…

Crap. That sounds exactly like me.

"But I must warn you, Mielle Vinnaie," the woman warns, closing the already-small distance between us. "The properties of the locket are limited to each user. Once a person's longing to escape is satisfied and once they have found the thing they are searching for in the time they have traveled to, then the locket will automatically travel to your next destination. With or without your consent. And once you have traveled, you cannot go back. You have been warned, user."

I wrinkle my brows and shake my head, my mind still clouded by the possibility of all of this being weird. Unfortunately for her, the words she just said just went into one ear and out the other.

"I still don't understand," I start. My eyes fall to the silver locket. "This can't be real, can it? This is all some weird-ass dream that my mind concocted. There's no way time traveling is possible, especially with some stupid necklace."

"Anything's possible, dear."

"Yes, in a fantasy novel," I comment.

"But aren't you in one?"

"What?"

I watch as her hand reaches for my face, her fingers and palm pressing against my eyes to blind my sight.

"If you want proof, my skeptical darling, I shall give it to you," she says. "I do hope you find your adventures to be quite enjoyable."

"What do you—"

Suddenly, I feel myself falling backwards, my vision still darkened by the woman's hand. But it doesn't take long until my back collides with a solid foundation, making my eyes burst open to find the rays of the sun smiling down at me.

I grunt, feeling the brunt of my fall all over my back. "Goddammit, what the hell was that?" My fingers graze soft grass and push my body upwards. I tuck my unruly bed hair behind my ear. "That was one hell of a dream, though."

A gun cocks.

And then I realize that I'm sitting on grass.

Why the hell does my room have grass?

Slowly, my eyes raise from the floor and find a small group of sentinel-looking men position their guns at me, their faces shrouded by a metal sheet that glints underneath the sun.

I wrinkle my brows and spin my head around. Before me stand posh-looking men and women, some standing while others sitting down. Draperies and banners of blue and pink decorate the trees and the lampposts that surround the area, and my eyes catch notice of multiple tables filled with expensive food. But what catches my attention the most are the attires of the people present.

Petticoats.

Cravats.

Corsets.

Top hats.

A chilling feeling runs down my spine.

"Hey, you over there," I say, pointing at one of the noblemen staring at me.

His expression ignites with surprise, eyes darting around in fluster. "M-Me, mademoiselle?"

"Yes, you. What year is it?" I ask, fingers digging into my palm.

Please say 2000s, I pray. Oh dear God, please make him say that.

"It's 1880, Miss," the man replies. My heart sinks. No freaking way. "The twenty-eighth of February of the year 1880."

'Now, what do you say, Mielle?' I hear the light woman's voice again, chillingly taunting. 'Do you still need further proof?'

My hand makes its way to my mouth, eyes wider than freaking yoga balls.

Oh my God.

I've really traveled back to the past…