Assassin's Creed: Chronos (Ezio x OC)

Prologue

It wasn't all that big; maybe a few feet long, two wide, and barely reached her knees. It was a simple thing besides the metal-plated edges she guessed were gold, but looked a little faded and worn, as if it had not been here the whole time. It was not locked, either. In fact, it opened with surprising ease, although for good reason; there was practically nothing left in it. She found a few papers written in what looked an Arabic or some old English language, but it was all nonsense to her. She did find one in more modern English and a large bundle of old parchment tied together with string to go with it, but the open one was hard to read and the knot fairly tight, so she set it aside in favor of the last remaining item. It was a small pouch made of some kind of material. It looked like red velvet, but she didn't think that was quite right. It carried something with weight, too, and after opening it up she found it was a pocket watch, or something like it.

"And just what are you...?" she mused aloud as she admired the device. It was the oddest watch or clock or whatever it was that she'd ever seen. It was half-spherical, curved on the front, and flat on the back. On the surface were twelve notches all in the right place like her mother's watch had, minus the numbers. In the center was only one hand, though, which didn't really make for a good clock and it was emplaced in a grooved circle with thin, short lines coming from it, which touched even more grooved circles. She turned it around to inspect the indentions she'd felt on the back, and found them similar to those on the front, although this time there were odd symbols joining them. She'd never seen anything remotely similar, and wondered who on Earth could have crafted such a thing? She could swear it was made of gold, but it didn't feel right. It did have a golden color, though, so what could it be?

She turned it back around as she thought, rubbing her thumb along where the hand was until a sharp pain shot through her digit. She dropped it with a yelp, hissing as she looked at the new cut on her thumb, leaking a small trickle of blood. She scowled and glared daggers at the clock, picking it back up to find the blood left on it had dribbled into the grooves. She could swear she saw the blood moving weird, but it had to have been a trick of the light. This thing was a jerk, though, that was for sure.

"Well, at least it's still cool. I guess it's worth bringing back. Technically belongs to me in a way. Sort of," she hummed as she turned to go. As soon as her foot touched down, though, a searing heat went through her hand, causing her to drop her phone, yet the Clock remained as if was a part of her, and the world burst.

She tried to scream, but there was no sound. Her body felt like it was on fire, and the very breathe was stolen from her lungs. All thoughts vanished, her mind was mindless; her form was formless. She was empty. Nothing.

Darkness.

It engulfed her now. What was she, anyways? Catherine? A person? A human? A body? An organ? A cell? An atom? Darkness? Nothingness? She didn't know anymore. How could she know? There was nothing; nothing but the searing pain.

Then—light.

It came as an explosion that blinded and deafened her. The heat that came from it was real, her right hand burning as the clock remained stuck to her, glowing so bright it was almost like a star. Yet, she was able to look right at it and somehow see the clock's hand spinning to where it was impossible to tell where it was. All the grooves glowed, and she knew it was where everything had come from. Whatever this—this thing was, it had brought her to this place. This...

'My God,' she gaped as she took in the infinite cluster of stars before her. They seemed to thrust out from her, moving at millions of miles per second. She watched as atoms smashed together and formed dust, which crashed with dust to form lights, which crashed with lights to form explosion after explosion that formed more atoms and dusts and stars. It was brilliant, and she could find no words as the stars collided together and formed spirals and loops and ovals. Galaxies, she realized. Hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of galaxies full of even more billions of stars. There were so many, and they all surrounded her in this darkness that she somehow stood upon, as if it were flat ground. She did not know how it was all happening, only that it was, and she knew she was seeing the birth of the Universe.