The Time Machine Tattoo

   Ever since Dominic could remember,

     He had heard stories of Namiah, queen of the angels, sister to Lilith the damned, whose army succumb to the power of darkness in the invisible wars that raged long ago high up in the clouds. In dreams he had held her hand as she fled under a reign of arrows, narrowly escaping from the citadel of obsidian stone where for so long she was held captive, high up in the skies. 

Every night hidden under the covers lit by a tiny flash light Dominic would watch the hands of his grandfather's pocket watch as if it retold the story of his first dream. It was that same silver handed circle that he carried with him where ever he went, but today the watch had special purpose.

Dominic hand't felt so much as a fairy's tickle throughout the, normally quasi painful experience, procedure. Dominic sat upright and awake, not an ounce of alcohol or drugs in his system, completely sober he had sat through a needle injected art form. 

The tattoo was that of a nineteenth century pocket watch painted upon the underside of the Dominic's wrist. When he was not but a lad that same wrist had been broken during a climbing expedition with his elder brother in the neighbours back yard. The barkless and twisted red Manzanita tree had been a prestigious centre piece of the lush forest of fauna that compromised the beautiful fairy tale garden behind the ancient stone walls of the Quiest family.

When the deviant artist had finished, he looked up at Dominic and smiled 'just one final touch and we'll be done.' With that the artist put down his needle and took off his gloves. He looked back to my wrist, gently grasped it in his left hand and leaned in, at first the young man couldn't tell what it was he was doing, but then he saw it. The tattoo artist was turning the dials of the watch, as he did Dominic began to swoon with the onset of an intense dizziness. With each turn of the hands past twelve the room grew darker until it was nearly black, then suddenly it stopped and the enveloping darkness began to dissipate. 'That should do it son,' the deviant artist said with a wicked grin 'you may leave now, if you can.' With that the artist let go of the Dominic's wrist and the world went white.

Wind, a bitter intense breeze bit through the young man's clothes, kindling a chill as deep as his bones. It felt as though he were standing naked upon stones and pebbles in the middle of a dry river bed, a tempest howling down upon him with no barrier in sight. It was so intense Dominic's eyes began to tear up as he attempted to open them, it was a struggle and it was several seconds before he was able to squint.

It wasn't wind at all, Dominic was falling. He closed his eyes and prayed it was all just a dream, biting down hard on his lower lip and pinched his his index finger underneath his thumbnail until it started to bleed. Opening his eyes once again Dominic admitted to himself that he was not in fact dreaming.

The ground was invisible, hidden behind thick white fields of cloud. Dominic was rushing towards them in a free fall, what lay behind them, he would soon find out.  Once again he closed his eyes, this time to feel the open air rippling down his skin, the wind made it feel as if he had no clothes on at all. Suddenly a cool mist began to form about him, he could feel his clothes now damp with moisture.

When next he opened his eyes, Dominic found himself enveloped by the white fields. Soon he was completely drenched from head down to his toes, he felt as if his pants would fall off at any moment. Reaching down he did his belt up another two notches, just for safety, the denim of jeans was overly heavy when wet. 

Straining to hold his eyes open through the mist like rain Dominic began to wish for a view of his demise, how far off was the ground or even the slightest glimpse of the earth? Not a second later there was a break in the cloud and so too was the deep brown of dirt mingled with stone. Only a few thousand feet below Dominic could see plainly the outline of a mountain top or maybe it was simply a hillside in the middle of the country side.

 The clouds before Dominic's eyes began to break, he was falling very swiftly towards an island floating in the sky. He rapidly surveyed the landscape, it was more than an island, it was a continent hovering there before him. 

It was massive, as he grew closer the island in the sky grew more distinct. Dominic could make out there were at least three lakes, one near the Eastern edge surrounded by fields of tall grass upon rolling hills, close to what he guessed to be a city of stone surrounded by what could only by forest, marshes lay before its gates and the lake beyond it, in the Western realm of the continent, was also near to a town, though this one was much smaller than the other.

In the centre of the continent was what appeared at first glance to be a spiral tower, that reached thousands of feet into the sky, most of which as disguised, hidden by the same clouds that Dominic had just emerged from...