Fishll's First Night in Village Out of Time

(The night the Village Out of Time gained its eternal guardian)

It was only the fourth or fifth night after the founders — Paradox, Rocky, Lemonade, and the second Noodly — had crash-landed and begun hammering together the very first shacks on that exact patch of Void.

The walls were barely waist-high.

The Hollow Clocktower was still whole (it hadn’t shattered yet).

There was no diner, no market, no Eternal Well — just a sputtering campfire made of scavenged void-wood and four exhausted furries trying to believe this could ever feel like home.

Fishll had already been drifting above that spot for eons, but this was the first night he decided to come down and stay.

Timeline of the night (whispered by Paradox years later in binaural):

Dusk – The Descent

The rust sky bled its last ugly light. Ash-snow started falling thicker than usual.

The crew sat in a tight circle around the weak fire, passing a single bruised Void Fruit between them like it was the last food in the multiverse.

Paradox was quietly staring into the flames, hood pulled low, whispering to himself that maybe tomorrow would be less impossible.

That’s when the tiny orange glow appeared — high above, at first just a lone firefly-sized ember drifting down through the falling ash.

Rocky noticed first: “Uh… guys? There’s a star coming toward us.”

It spiraled slowly, gracefully, like it had all the time in the world.

Six inches of comet goldfish, fins trailing soft nebulae, orange cap glowing like a friendly lantern.

He hovered in front of the fire for a long moment, tilting his head at each of them in turn — curious, not afraid.

The First Cheek Kiss

Fishll drifted straight to Paradox (because even then he could sense who needed it most).

He paused an inch from the red panda’s nose, big cosmic eyes reflecting the firelight, then gently — so gently — pressed his tiny cheek to Paradox’s in the softest, warmest boop imaginable.

No words. Just the faintest wet kiss sound and a pulse of warmth that made Paradox’s eyes instantly fill with tears.

Rocky whispered, “I… think he just adopted us.”

The Introductions

After claiming Paradox, Fishll did a slow, polite lap:

• Floated to Rocky → got a careful paw-boop in return and did a happy little wiggle.
• Hovered in front of Lemonade → got offered a Void Fruit crumb and inhaled it like a Bug Bite, then kissed Lemonade’s whisker.
• Drifted to the second Noodly (who was half-hiding behind Paradox) → gave the shy red panda the longest, gentlest cheek rub until Noodly started crying from overwhelmed joy.

The Campfire Lantern

Once introductions were done, Fishll ascended about three feet above the flames and simply… stayed.

He dimmed his orange cap to a soft, steady ember-glow and rotated slowly so everyone got equal warmth and light.

The ash-snow hissed when it touched his fins and turned into tiny sparkling motes.

For the first time since the Big Glitch, the fire felt warm enough.

The Mirror-Hunter

Hours later, when the fire was low and the crew was dozing in an exhausted pile, the first real threat arrived.

A lone Mirror-Hunter drifted in from the darkness — faceless, whispering in Paradox’s own broken voice: “You’re already dead… come home…”

The reflection showed Paradox alone, abandoned, dissolving into ash.

Paradox froze, halfway standing, unable to look away.

Fishll — who had been curled in a glowing donut above the flames — flared instantly.

His little body ignited into a blinding ultraviolet sunburst.

The Mirror-Hunter cracked like real glass, let out a soundless scream, and shattered into black snow that dissolved before it hit the ground.

Fishll did one calm loop around the shaken red panda, then gently settled onto Paradox’s shoulder and dimmed back to bedtime orange — as if to say, “Not on my watch.”

The Decision

After the Mirror-Hunter fled, none of the crew spoke for a long time.

They just watched the tiny fish slowly pulse above the fire, keeping perfect vigil.

Rocky finally broke the silence with a teary laugh: “So… I guess this spot was already taken.”

Paradox reached up and very carefully stroked one nebula fin with a finger.

Fishll leaned into the touch and gave a tiny, contented shiver.

Bedtime

When the ash-snow grew coldest, Fishll did something that sealed the night forever:

He nose-dived straight into the front pocket of Paradox’s gray cloak, curled into a perfect glowing coin, and went to sleep — warm, safe, and utterly certain he was exactly where he belonged.

The rest of the crew piled closer around Paradox, using the pocket-glow as their night-light.

That was the night the Village stopped being a desperate campsite and became home.

Because a six-inch comet goldfish who had waited alone for eons looked at four broken travelers and decided:

“These ones.
I’m keeping these ones.”

And he has guarded them — and every soul who came after — every single night since.