The Watchmaker’s Daughter
In a small, mist-covered village nestled in the Alps, an old watchmaker named Elias has spent his entire life crafting intricate clocks, each with a special detail that seems to bring it to life. These aren’t just ordinary clocks, though—they have a mysterious reputation: they grant wishes, but only to those who know how to listen to their ticking. Elias has always kept this magic a secret.
Elias’s daughter, Helena, an independent and skeptical young woman, has been away for years, trying to distance herself from the village and her father’s peculiar ways. But when Elias falls ill, she’s drawn back to the village to care for him and help with the shop.
One evening, while cleaning the dusty shelves in her father’s shop, Helena finds an old pocket watch that doesn’t tick. Curiously, it has her initials engraved on the back. Her father insists that it’s a family heirloom that holds a secret—but to uncover it, she must learn to listen to the language of time itself.
With each tick and chime, she’s pulled into a series of dreams that reveal fragments of her father’s past, strange wishes he’s granted, and the price that came with each one. As she pieces together the memories embedded in the watch, Helena realizes that she has inherited her father’s gift—but it comes with a curse. The wishes she grants might give her insight into people’s hearts, but they cost her a piece of herself.
As she grapples with this newfound ability, Helena faces a choice: follow in her father’s footsteps to grant wishes with her craft, or find a way to free herself from the watch’s hold—even if it means giving up a piece of her own soul.
This story could explore themes of legacy, choice, and the burden of inheriting gifts and curses alike. And as Helena delves into the mysteries of time and wishes, she must decide whether she’ll stay in the village as the new keeper of time, or break free and write her own story.