Z, one of the greatest architects of his times, was summoned by the Emperor to design a prison. The outside of the prison was to be designed in the shape of a round clock. The hands of the clock were to be made of platinum while the roman numerals, indicating the time, were to be gold-plated. On the ‘VI’ th mark, would be the steel doorway to the prison. The inside of the prison was to be the completion opposite of its outside grandeur. It would be like any dungeon with a lot of cells. When Z inquired why the Emperor needed a prison whereas the castle dungeons had room enough, he was reminded that although he applauded Z’s genius, he was still a bound loyal subject. The Emperor said that the purpose of the prison was of no importance to Z.

With pioneering determination, Z began this grand construction and after six months he completed a marvelous piece of architectural brilliance, exactly as the Emperor had envisioned it. In the palace court the Emperor applauded Z’s brilliance and announced that the purpose of the prison was to discipline every one of his subjects. If the cartman took a minute extra to deliver the flour to the bakery, or the military generals were even a few seconds late to the parade grounds, they would be thrown inside that prison. The Emperor’s announcement along with the symbolic architecture of Time had an immediate profound effect. Starting from the lowly peasants to the highest nobles, everyone performed their duties with a martial sense of time. However, no one was allowed within a large radius of the prison and after night time there was a curfew imposed. Everybody followed the regulation hours like clockwork as they were terrified of being imprisoned. Fear of the unknown is one of the greatest fears and nobody knew what the insides of that prison were like.

People gazed and marveled at it from afar. People from all over the world came to admire the marvel but never knew what it looked like under the moonlight. Although no one ever uttered a word about it, the palace guards knew that the Emperor went to visit the prison every midnight. A year passed but Z had always remained skeptical of the true purpose of the prison. Although the Emperor had asked him to make a single golden key to the prison, the ever-curious Z had a duplicate one made. One night, Z snuck out of his chambers and went out into the streets. Much to his surprise there were no soldiers enforcing the curfew. With a hood over his head, and still being vigilant, he was surprised even more to see that the famous prison had not a single guard. With a fast-paced beating heart, Z unlocked the steel door with his key as the clock hands indicated five minutes till midnight.

To be continued...