The Infinity Pocket Watch
"So... why do you always have a pocket watch on you Eclipse? Don't you have a strong internal clock at this point? It's something very common among smartie pants like us!" He was still delusional. Will he truly someday recognize his importance in this vast mess of world we call Infinitum?
"Sorry slick. You don't get to fully grasp the importance of this one from me telling you. You'll have to figure that out alongside me in time."
"In time!? In WHAT time!? Haven't we been plagued by 'time' enough at this point? Why is it so important that you can't just trust me!? You remember what that means right!? Trusting another human... erm... dragon... being!? Also why did we become dragons?"
"We always thought of them as being ridiculously powerful and majestic. Do you really not remember this stuff from your human life?"
"I honestly thought I'd just popped into existence through those portals. That's why so many of demon kind are so scared of those things. Down there they literally think the damn things are God. The absolute absurdity of a God existing in a hellish landscape like this where I had to meet YOU again. Seriously. Have you nothing to say for yourself? Also, stop trying to tinker with that clock, will you? I want you to attention to me!"
"Ok. Chronias. Do you remember the importance of respect?"
"I... you know, fair enough. Just because I'm the demon here doesn't mean I need to be an asshole all the time." He gave me some time to observe the intricacies of the watch. "Just, please do me the favor of making it brief? I.. really missed you all this time you know." Well, at least he remembers some of our shared history. There's an eagerness to actually reconnect and love again. Calypso above I hope you've got a good idea as to what's going on here. That familiar light buzzing in my head says in its soft, gentle tones...
"Well, he seems to be coherent at least. You're both aware that you're therapists in this timeline?"
I respond telepathically. "No. At least I'm not for sure about that. What information do you have about what he did while he was up here? I'm glad he came up to Infinitum himself this time. Saves me the trouble of having to scour the town looking for our mark." More light buzzes. I like it when Calypso finally allows things to be easy in this game. Free information is the best information!
"I'm going to warn you Eclipse, even I don't really know what's going on with him. He's completely invisible to my trackers. No seriously. He's doing something different this time." My eyes went extremely wide. This... was a good development. If he was able to somehow avoid the usual trackers Calypso used in the physical realm, maybe he could dodge those designed to detect us in Lagharia too. Why dear reader do I have such a strong connection with Calypso? Well, that's very simple actually.
The true importance of this watch is it's designed to be a wedding gift. An anniversary of an event we missed on earth. He won't remember any of this for a while, so I'll give you all a bit of a "sneak peek" at what my ultimate goal is with this little game.
I'm playing a game with God. Yes, THE God. It's wagering my own soul for that of my earthly lover's. This is why he's slowly but surely remembering me. He will not be happy with me. He never is. No matter what timeline we go through or what memories we lose of each other, proximity brings memories back into focus. There are these objects known as...you know we'll get into that later.
This watch is called "The Infinity Pocket Watch." Someday, it will bring the walls of Lagharia crashing down. I'll give you all a low down on what that place is later. You've already heard me and Chronias discuss that place at length. The mystery will make sense in due time I promise.
We were both heads of an international spy organization at the same level of size as Interpol. We had to do some jobs that were really disgusting in the service of the Bureau of Investigation back in the day. Surveilling anarchists, combatting labor movements that were necessary for the development of a better future for the US in hindsight. It was really self-indulgent on the part of the United States government at the time. We did our best to learn what we could about keeping under cover. Cyphering, disguising, and we always kept pocket watches in the coat pockets of our jackets. Really simple ones though. Couldn't give away any details about who we were underneath.
Without getting too much into details for the time being, we took some of our friends from the ranks and eventually decided that we were going to "retire" for the sake of making lives for ourselves on the other side. Unfortunately, you don't ever really "get out" of an intelligence agency when you're as good at your jobs as we were.
I got him this Pocket Watch and planned to give it to him along with our wedding bands. It was in secret of course as gay people didn't have the right to get properly married. Boy howdy did we have to do some work to get a preacher to officiate it! Dude probably lost his priesthood over that one! At any rate though, I never did get to give him that watch. Or the ring for that matter.
I was captured and tortured by a counterintelligence group called Vice-Grip. There's a good chance they're somewhere stalking around in hell too, and with easy access to Infinitum City, we have to be especially careful. I even have ways of not being detected by Calypso myself. He knows the method of course, but even HE doesn't know what messages I decode into aetherite until those bricks pop and memories come flooding back in.
What was I saying? Sorry, that must have been more aetherite too. They tend to contain really random scrambled thoughts inside so we can communicate between timelines. Like, original timeline before we died and got these ridiculously random powersets, they held me. In a psyche ward. For twenty years of my fifty-seven-year life. In solitary confinement. Someone at the Military Intelligence Division apparently tried to get involved to break me out, however he was told that this was something they should agree with. A type of "loose end being removed from an infinite thread." It's only now that I scarily recognize what that meant.
The watch now looks perfect to me all the time. Everything looks perfect to an angel. Guess I did enough. Chronias didn't though. He totally gave up on the magic of the world. You wouldn't think so no, but the dude was a magician in his regular life! A really good one too! He always lifted the spirits of everyone around him by playing with decks of cards and could even fake out pursuers with a special metalic deck in a very clever way. He'd make them by carving the symbols into metal that he could use to throw like shuriken's by sharpening their edges to a fine point. His creativity was part of what I loved about him, even if it was ridiculously impractical. However, the demonic influences within purgatorio are a great way to kill creativity and descend into madness. Just like he is now that we're dead. This is going to be a long, lonely road, but I can't give up on him. He's my one. You never give up on your one. No matter what.
To me, the watch always appears as a combination of Holy Golds and Platinums. However, the exterior has both our visages, and you can tell a lot about our appearances through the appearance of ourselves on the watch.
My base form has platinum scales as we're all dragons now that we're here in heaven. I however am wearing one of my "Infinity Artifacts" which the Infinity Pocket Watch is the most important one. If I can get Chronias to see its beauty in all its form, then we both get to be angels for eternity in a place known only by us as Eterna. Not a very creative name honestly, but what can you do. You can't really change certain things about heaven. Only what Calypso allows. My side of the watch has pieces of platinum, with gold in place of my eyes and gold lining a spiral on each side of my head representing the crescent moon. The "Infinity Artifact" shown are the "Infinity Specs" for seeing through illusions. It's been a long time since we had a pair of those. They're the only thing on the watch shown to be depicted with Obsidian Crystal. Chronias has a side of the case too! His is vibrant with red rubies and sapphire eyes to match his beautiful form. I always will see him as an angel, even if he thinks this form is demonic now. The interior even has little lightning bolts in place of the hands! Each one getting thinner as you go from hour, to minute, to second. It's even prettier than the one I wanted to give him in the mortal realm. At least I think it is. Sadly, memory is especially fleeting and one of the rules of time travel in this "game" is that time erases memory. I thought there was another game that mentions that but alas, what do I know about video games. Different era, not necessarily my style.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
The chain has the ability to extend outward forever. As far out as the extent of my love for him goes. My love and appreciation of him is always growing, but every mobius strip needs two circles. It's so easy for us to lose links on this infinite chain. I used to be able to actually use this as a weapon rather than it just having to be inside the chest pocket on my detective jacket like a normal decorative watch.
When it's high functioning and working at maximum efficiency (that we are aware of at least) it has the power to be a portable chronometer in the real world and an active protection from Calypso's influences. It literally repels GOD of all things. Not just the word or the concept, the literal God of our world. It prevents him from reading our thoughts and even from thoughts being implanted into our heads! By not just Calypso, but by anyone! This watch, someday, will literally be the only "Infinity Protocol" we need. On that day when it's accepted by Chronias and he remembers the wedding day, maybe even when I have finally remembered all the details of what happened on that infinitely dark day on earth, then we can finally actually be married here in the afterlife and shape our personal paradise as only the two of us could know how. Maybe even bring our friends from the Obsidian Order with us!
....
Please. If anyone is reading this, don't let this just be a dream. I have so much faith that... someone is reading this? Well, if you are, do not give up on any dream. No matter how absurd. You have a lot of wonders in the new technological age that we didn't have in the roaring twenties. Come to think of it, it's the 2020's on earth now, isn't it? Maybe, if we have people like me who can be successful in putting their thoughts into understandable terms, then we have a chance to actually live better lives. Who knows? Maybe this is the generation that will finally get to see this story to its logical, and emotional end.
That's a long time away now though. I should stop being so nostalgic and get back to work. Eclipse Over and Out.
History
I am always the one who carries it. Like a decorative lead weight hanging around my neck. It may be made of angelic gold, and jewels, but no matter how powerful it gets, it was never meant to be mine to hold. To discuss the history of this item would be to discuss the entire history of our game with God which would take millennia on its own at this point. It certainly at least feels like this cursed game has been going for that long. Hopefully the last point in its written history will be the day that Chronias takes me fully as his husband in Eterna. I can only hope that day comes. I cannot ever force it. Thus, the pocket watch stays with me. Slowly diminishing in power as me and Chronias grow more distant. Someday, I hope for the chain to be powerful enough to continue on forever again. Every Chain being like another mobius strip to build our futures of eternal happiness and light.
Significance
This was the representation of our wedding rings. That night, in the church, we were broken apart and taken away from each other. I don't even remember how, but the ring fell to the ground. All I remember is that the ring split somehow in two, and I was taken into a mental ward where I spent the rest of my short life being tortured like a lab rat. This is why I hate science so much. I can never tell Chronias, but I was originally the scientific one of our little group of rebels back on earth. He can't know that far into our past. Not until he remembers who I am. To try and prompt a proposal on him before he's actually willing and ready to accept it would make me the monster those psychiatrists always thought of me as. All I wanted was a better life for both of us. If I could not have that in life, I WILL HAVE IT IN THE AFTERLIFE. Chronias... I love you. Someday, you must accept this gift. Or I fear that I will never truly be free. Neither of us will be.
There is truthfully only one in existence. However, we always fail in trying to conceive it. It's harder for us to create miracles anymore. Especially when we are the ones we're trying to create miracles for. The selfish ones are always the ones that get rejected. Reader? Make it so that someday, Chronias will accept that he is the reason the Pocket Watch has any power at all. The reason my heart even still beats, even beyond death. Someday, I hope that he will accept this gift and product of our love and the journeys our hearts have taken to get to this point.
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