The Forgotten Island of Time
Once upon a time, in a world of regular people leading very average lives, there was an Island that was declared 'illegal' to explore or inhabit. It was called 'The Forgotten Island of Time.' The tales said whoever set foot on the island, never returned, trapped within a twisted timeline. It was Richard, an unlikely hero and archeologist, who dared to venture into this strange Island.
Richard wasn't a daredevil, but he did nourish his curiosity. Even he was ignorant of the enigma that beaconed him. He had heard endless stories of the Island, how it changed not with hours, but with eras. It intrigued him, and so, he decided to explore the oddity disguised as an Island, to unravel the truth and clear the fog of curiosity that clouded his mind.
As he approached the island, the air changed, thick and heavy, filled with an ancient aroma, making it difficult to breathe. The island was dressed lush green, with sweet silence surrounding the tall and wide, ancient trees. It was as if they were whispering years of wisdom and secrets never explored. He could literally feel each tick of the watch around his wrist, echoing the tick of a new epoch.
Richard started exploring, noting and collecting every possible clue and relic as he moved ahead. Time passed differently on this island, he noticed. As per his watch, it should have been two hours since he started, but the change in the geography reflected at least a few centuries had passed. Suddenly, he found his surroundings moving swiftly as if stuck inside a fast-forwarded reel of lost history. He was terrified, not because of the swift turns of the timeline, but the fact that he might be sketched next in the book of lost souls.
His heart raced like a galloping horse, but instead of turning back, his bold heart pushed him to move forward. Unknowingly, he had already marked his name as the first-ever visitor to cross the border of uncertainty. The further he went, the font of time enlarged to show him structures with beautiful architecture and the people living in sophisticated civilizations. The city patterns transformed from mere wooden homes to towering concrete skyscrapers as time moved ahead, integrating him into flying vehicles, extravagant clothes, and the science he could barely comprehend.
Amidst the peculiar evolution, Richard noticed something unusual. Despite the swift time, he remained the same, untouched by the rapid aging outside. His heart pounded against his chest, as he marveled at the profound beauty of the city that seemed to be trapped within the fast-track of evolution. Something in the bullring city life unnerved him. He noticed that no one seemed to be aware of their changing surroundings. They were lost, perhaps accepting it as a cruel fate.
Suddenly, his hand brushed against a rusted watch which lay hidden under some debris; its hands stuck at a point where time began. He wondered if this was the heart of the Island, the source of the powerful time manipulation. The watch seemed to be centered in a web of energy lines stretching through the island. Richard felt a spark of determination. Maybe he could manipulate it, break the cycle and free the lost souls.
With trembling hands, he turned the knob of the watch. The creeping city life around him, began to slow down and eventually fell in-sync with the universal timeline. The people around him stopped, startled, looking at their unchanging surroundings. Some gaped in awe, others wept with joy. They were finally freed from the grips of time's tyranny.
Richard had done the unthinkable. He had broken the wheel of fast-forwarded evolutions of the Forgotten Island of Time. As the people rejoiced their freedom, Richard left the island leaving the watch behind as a memory of his incredible journey.
Once an unlikely hero, Richard was now a legend in the pages of the mystical island’s history. On his part, he was just happy to have satiated his curiosity, by not just understanding but also rectifying the mysterious timeline of the forgotten island, thus setting a lot of trapped souls free.
Back home, he was filled not just with a sense of accomplishment but an unending thirst for exploring the unexplored, finding answers to the eternal human question, 'what lies beyond the known?'
He hoped his journey would inspire others to break the shackles of fears, and step into the world of the unknown, for that’s where the real adventure lie.