The time I discovered myself

With a pang, I realize that the universe I am seeing is part of our reality. I cannot believe that such a fantasy land could have been created by human hands, but it seems I’ve got to wrap my mind around it.

An overview of the place leaves me speechless, the artful building facades and the sculptures wearing the mark of time throwing me back to a day centuries ago.

In front of me, a gothic cathedral rises with its uneven towers and the deliberate imperfection makes the town square look even more otherworldly. Our tour guide continues talking about the Tyn Cathedral without sparing a thought to the fact that my world has tilted by several degrees.

A clock strikes the middle of the day and I hear it crystal-clear through the loud murmurs of the crowd at our left. I turn sharply and set my sights on the most beautiful piece of architecture I’ve seen in my meagre years.

The guide’s attention shifts to it, seeing how all of ours is gravitating towards the Clock Tower now. She tells us the metronome’s gory tale and how the creator’s eyes were removed in order for the clock to be unequalled by any other in the world. As revenge, the clockmaker had disabled the clock and no one had been able to repair it for the next hundred years.

Figures of the twelve apostles are making an appearance while the clock still sounds, going back inside through a second door and I marvel at the intricacies of a mechanism so beautiful.

I curiously study the sculptures surrounding the dial while the chaperon tells us they represent Vanity, Greed, Death and Lust, the things that were most despised at the time of its making. On the hour, the skeleton rings its bell and immediately all of the figures shake their heads, side to side, signifying their unreadiness "to go".

The representation finishes and leaves me with a deep-seated feeling of wonder that I feel has reached my bones and I take in the view of the dial, which somehow encompasses the old and new timescale, the zodiac circle and the phases of the moon and the sun’s position.

I am suddenly hit by the certainty that this is what I want to do in my life. I want to create something so unique and beautiful that people are going to stop and stare. They are going to gaze at my works with child-like wonder or they are going to be chilled to the bone by the intricacies. But they will be amazed. I will be amazing.

That was the time I discovered myself.