Lily and the Time-Travelling Trinket

"I can't believe this. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse."

The little trinket she found in the attic glowed a bright blue, as if to tell her that the impossible was indeed happening. She was going somewhere else—a place she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"This has got to be some kind of dream," Lily mumbled, "or I'm going insane."

She shook her head vigorously, but the glow only intensified. The thought that she could be dreaming was quickly dismissed when she realized an important fact about dreams: they didn't hurt this much.

The trinket began to pull her forward, towards something unknown. Her body felt heavy and stiff like a statue, but the force from the trinket did not relent. She tried to fight against it, but it was no use. In a matter of seconds, the glow subsided and she felt a sudden rush of air brush against her skin. The next thing she knew, she was standing on grassy ground in a lush green forest.

Lily took a step backwards and stared at her surroundings in complete shock. Everything—the smell of pine trees in the air, the color of moss covering rocks and tree trunks, even the rays of sunlight peeking through tree branches—was all too familiar and yet foreign at the same time. She didn't know how or why, but somehow she knew where she was. She simply knew it with every fiber of her being: she was back in Roman Britain during the early years of Claudius' reign. But how? How could this be possible? A dozen questions swirled around her head until a sudden rustle behind a nearby bush distracted her attention away from them all.

Her heart raced and adrenaline pumped through every vein as she slowly drew out her short sword from its scabbard on her belt. Every muscle in her body tensed up as she readied herself for combat, but before she could even blink an arm shot out from behind the bush and clutched onto her wrist tightly while simultaneously pushing down on the hilt of her sword so that it faced directly downwards into the dirt below them both. Her attacker's other hand reached around and covered up her mouth before pulling both arms behind her back so that they were tightly bound together by his hands with only enough slack given to still allow Lily to walk freely with him in tow behind her. His grip was firm yet gentle; he didn't cause any pain or harm to his prisoner despite his tight hold around Lily's wrists and mouth. It wasn't long before he finally decided to let go of his prisoner, who then whirled around to face him in surprise at his sudden release of restraint on both wrists and mouth. He had already drawn out his own short sword though Lily noticed that he held it slightly differently than what most men did: with two hands instead of just one.

He smiled at Lily's reaction, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth that reminded Lily more of a wild animal than anything else because they were so sharp and pointed in nature. But there was something oddly comforting about his smile; Lily couldn't explain what exactly it was about him that made him seem so familiar, but something deep down inside told her that he meant no harm whatsoever. He spoke after what seemed like an eternity's worth silence between them: "My name is Clovis," he announced proudly while bowing down low with his body while keeping eye contact with Lily the whole time before standing straight again with his chest puffed out outwardly and head held high like a proud stallion high atop a hill overlooking its entire kingdom for all to see, "Clovis Aurelius Severus!"