Aleph Valaha fiddled with one of the many antique clocks on its desk as they counted under his breath. Setting the clock aside, they checked the marble slate on the desk, which was having the same words it was speaking etched onto its clean white surface, then wiped clean to start again. The slate was really being replaced by a new one, with the original being put through a longer process involving the words being copied onto paper and neatly filed away into the Library of Time. To a stranger, the scene would have been something out of a fever dream. A dark teal-furred creature, with a strange clock around its neck, speaking while a slate wrote down their words? To the humans of the present world, it was impossible. But this was not the present world. This was the world of the creatures who labored underground to keep the world running for ten thousand years. The World-Runners. And it was Aleph Valaha's job to count time. It stood and paced the room, never stopping his relentless speech, looking with affection at their spruce desk. It was well-polished and clean, and neatly organized, with pens, pencils and paper each in their respectful place. The desk also had a golden nameplate with his name on it, and its motto beneath: Usque Ad Ultimum Tempus. Until Time Ends. They sat as several Gerula sprinted into the room, panting. They were about knee-high little things, brown- and dark red-colored, but in all other respects seemed like the human species that would populate the world for... it checked the clock around his neck. Ah. Ten more years. "I can spare you five minutes," it said, for the first time that hour ending their muttering. "Go." "One of the Makers accidentally created a tiger, sir," the tallest, a russet-skinned fellow named... what was it? Rufinow? Rufini? No, Rufina. She blinked her brown eyes worriedly. "It's loose and on a rampage." "Let me guess, this was Auriel." The entire group nodded sadly. "Subdue it. Bring it to her. She'll either, um, uncreate it or, knowing her, bring it to the surface to live for ten years. Or even to the Animal Rooms." "Yes, sir," Rufina said, leading her group out of its office. Aleph leaned back and continued counting. The slates, which had continued doing their work while they had been speaking with Rufina, now picked up the pace, working with more vigor, if a slate of marble could be said to have any vigor at the best of times. Only nine years left, he noted silently much later, never ending their relentless chant. Not long before the Makers would end the human race and remake a new world for different animals. Of course, they'd have the Animal Rooms, where all the animals from previous worlds lived. Well, not all the animals. Just some to keep the species alive. Like dodos. Not long at all.
ok guys my computer's sad and won't let me put Ticking in my backpack to bring here so just imagine Ticking in the background alright? alright good thanks /hj /lh Ticking - TIN /j /lh all chars and premise is mine
