When Time Collides

Chapter Seven

Merida

The group spun around in fright, and came face to face with a man cloaked in a azure blue and gold embossed cloak with draping sleeps, a train and a hood that hung so low it concealed and shadowed most of his face. A wispy white beard fell below his waist and a moustache peeked out from beneath a long hooked nose. In one hand, the man clutched tightly to a scythe with a think twisted staff of wood and a sharp metal blade engraved with strange swirling shapes. Gold cuffs circled his wrists, engraved with the same strange markings as the scythe. Hanging from around his waist was a gold chain, and attached to that chain was a small golden hourglass, the sand inside of it falling a grain at a time. Not one member from the group of eight recognised the eerie being. A scary thing, given the diversity of background and histories between them all.

" Who are you?" North gawked.

" Who am I?" The perplexing figure chuckled. " Why, I am the beginning and the end of time and space, the existence of every passing moment; the keeper of all intervals, spells, spans and and stretches. I am-"

Bunny coughed as interruption. " What a lovely little speech, mate. We're all very busy people, so why not spare us the dramatics, and tell us before I decide to rip out Jack's hair?"

( Jack protested from the opposite side of the group. " Why is it always my hair?" )

Merida noted in the brief silence that followed that she had attempted to say the very same thing back in Berk -about pulling out Jack's hair. Perhaps the Easter Bunny wasn't so bad after all.

The simple thought of Berk and Merida's smile slipped from her face. It all seemed such a long time ago that she'd been spectating a dazzling showcase put on in the Viking village. But really, it had only been late that morning. So much had happened since then and, well, Merida was seeing the world differently now. Yesterday, while she may have believed in magic and wisps and witches, she hadn't believed in the Easter bunny, Santa clause or little fairies that visited in the night. It was crazy, how quickly her perspective was having to adjust to just how big of a picture she'd had now that the curtain previously shielding her had been pulled opened harshly.

Merida tuned out of her thoughts as the inscrutable figure before them began to once again speak.

" I see you've no respect nor do you hold any appreciation for the fine art of poetry." The cloaked man sniffed with distaste. Bunny reached for his boomerangs in frustration, and the cloaked man began again quickly. " Fine! Fine. As you so very desperately desire knowledge of my identity, I shall bestow it on you, though I feel that reasonably, you should have realised who I am by now. The hourglass should have all but given it away; I am called many things. I was once the Titan Kronos, though more presently I have been dubbed the Father of Time."

He pushed back his cloak hood at that, revealing the wrinkled, sagging face of an elderly man who'd long since expired his life date. His cheeks were sunk, as were his grey eyes held an unimaginable age within their orb-like shape. His eyebrows and the few hairs reminding atop his head were the same wispy white as his beard. The veins across his face and neck protruded above and over the usual protrusion. His crackled, stained lips were pursed.
All in all, he looked like one of those fragile china decorations that would break and splinter into pieces, scattering the ground should it be moved too quickly or too roughly.

More like Grandfather Time, Merida snickered quietly to herself.

" Father Time is old." Hiccup hissed in Rapunzel and Merida's ears. They both fought off similar jabs that threatened to slip through their lips.