Faithful

At exactly midnight, a sound cut through the howling wind—a deep, metallic thrum . Then, the first "Tick." Then, a "Tock."

The winter of '26 was the harshest in a century. A relentless ice storm knocked out the town’s power, plunging Elmsworth into a freezing, silent darkness. Cell towers went down, and digital clocks flickered into black voids. The village was, quite literally, lost in time. Faithful

When the sun finally broke through the clouds, the villagers looked up. For the first time in forty years, the clock showed the correct time. They found Silas asleep at the base of the gears, his coat draped over the sensitive escapement wheel to protect it from the draft. At exactly midnight, a sound cut through the