original

Super short story

Chapter 1: Clock

"Attention visitors, please make your way out of the museum, we will be closing up in 15 minutes. Please make your way out."

Zheng Yan looked down at his watch that showed it was 6pm, everything was on schedule so far, no annoying visitors or big incidents, it was like every other day. 15 minutes later, as the last of the visitors left the museum, he locked the door and went to check on the new artifacts that were delivered this afternoon. It was the last task on his checklist, and his favorite one as he could play with the items delivered. He had always been an avid fan of tinkering with objects, as it was one of the only pastimes in the orphanage that he had grown up in.

Zheng Yan arranged the boxes, marking them with tags such as 'Modern', 'Greek', 'Medieval', 'Egyptian', 'Asian' and so on, so that the volunteers could easily move the boxes tomorrow. Clapping his hands to shake the dust off, he stood up to admire his handiwork, he then noticed a miniature mechanism standing out among the unpacked artifacts. Zheng Yan picked it up and examined it.

It was a small replica of the world's first clock, the Waterdriven Spherical Birds'-Eye-View Map of the Heavens which dated back to the Tang Dynasty. The replica was near perfect, the original clock that was as tall as 6 people was now as big as his palm, showing the prowess of the artificer, the name Zheng Chun was engraved at the bottom. Zheng Yan frowned as the clock felt a bit damp, was it packed carelessly? He turned the wheel of the clock, and winced as one of the sharp edges pricked him, drawing a bead of blood.

He placed the clock down carefully and turned to find a cloth to clean it. To his dismay, he tripped over a whip and fell towards a box of spears. Zheng Yan's face paled in horror as he was about to become the lamb skewers he had for lunch. He waited for impact and did not notice that the wheel of the replica was now spinning by itself. Right as the tip of the spears reached his head, a blinding light engulfed the room, and in the next moment, both Zheng Yan and the clock had disappeared from the room, disappeared from earth. There was no one to witness this phenomenon.

In a daze, Zheng Yan sat up and reached for his cheek, a small cut stung him and brought him to reality, he was actually transported! But where was he now? How did he get here? Examining his surroundings, he noticed the clock that he had been toying with earlier. He looked out the window of the carriage he was riding in, and what he saw shocked him, probably even more if he hadn't just been transported. The people he saw were wearing robes, like those of ancient china, but the most surprising part was the fact that they were flying on swords!

"Young Master, we have arrived." A voice called out, and a youth lifted up the curtain.

'Is he referring to me?' Zheng Yan thought to himself.

"It's time for your lessons with the Master." The youth said.

Zheng Yan had no time to adapt as he met his new household. In just a week all his worldviews were shattered. He was amazed by the wealth of this family as they sold artifacts to the people known as cultivators. He came to learn that his family was a prominent cultivating family, and that he was also a genius on the cultivation path. When he had time to himself, he would feel and absorb the qi in the air, it was a novel experience. Zheng Yan took lessons from his father to create artifacts, when he heard someone call his father Master Chun, he came to the realization that the 'Zheng Chun' who created the clock was his father. Watching as his father produce a qi blade from the tip of his finger to birth intricate designs and mechanisms, to spectating as his father trained and broke the rocks in their backyard with one palm strike, Zheng Yan's admiration for this world grew. He doesn't know what happened to the original Zheng Yan of this world, but he was grateful to live this life. He vowed to become a master artificer and spread his name in this new world.