Time Without Tide · Spooky October · Week 4 · The Age That Should Never Have Come
Explore the world of Time Without Tide:
The moon falls off the table.
CRACK.
CHIBI: “Oops.”
MARA: “Chibi! We spent all afternoon making that!”
CHIBI: “It was a very slippery moon.”
Mara picks up the broken paper lantern.
MARA: “Well, now it looks like the moon in Time Without Tide.”
CHIBI: “Did somebody drop that one too?”
MARA: “That’s what we’re investigating.”
She places the broken moon beside their cardboard model of Saltport.
CHIBI: “Are we detectives?”
MARA: “Yes.”
CHIBI: “Detectives get biscuits.”
MARA: “Later.”
CHIBI: “That’s what you always say.”
MARA: “Before the catastrophe, the world had an Age of Decadence. People possessed extraordinary technology. Then the moon fell, the Unknown arrived, and everything changed.”
CHIBI: “So who broke it?”
MARA: “We don’t know. But we can examine some possibilities.”
She places a little cardboard factory beside the harbour.
MARA: “First, perhaps people built something they couldn’t control.”
CHIBI: “Like my rocket?”
MARA: “Your rocket exploded because you mixed baking powder with vinegar.”
CHIBI: “And it reached the ceiling!”
MARA: “What if the old civilisation performed an experiment that went terribly wrong?”
CHIBI: “Then they should’ve read the instructions.”
Mara places a sheet of dark blue paper behind the harbour.
MARA: “Second, perhaps something from beyond the world caused the catastrophe.”
CHIBI: “The Unknown?”
MARA: “Possibly. But we don’t know whether it caused the moon to fall.”
CHIBI: “Maybe it’s like a storm.”
MARA: “What do you mean?”
CHIBI: “A storm doesn’t hate you. It just comes. And everybody gets wet.”
Mara considers that.
MARA: “That’s actually a good point.”
She opens a notebook filled with drawings of old rituals and mysterious machinery.
MARA: “Third, imagine some people believed a new age was coming.”
CHIBI: “Like Crowley and the others?”
MARA: “They were real historical thinkers with different beliefs. There’s no evidence they caused supernatural catastrophes. But for our fictional world, imagine someone who wanted the next age to begin sooner.”
CHIBI: “Why?”
MARA: “Perhaps they thought the new world would be better.”
CHIBI: “So they broke the old one?”
MARA: “That’s one possibility. Not an established answer.”
CHIBI: “They should’ve asked everybody first.”
MARA: “That might have been difficult.”
CHIBI: “Breaking the moon is difficult too.”
Mara looks at him.
MARA: “Fair enough.”
She draws a large question mark.
CHIBI: “Who’s that suspect?”
MARA: “Nobody. Perhaps the catastrophe was something no one intended or could prevent.”
CHIBI: “Then we have four suspects?”
MARA: “Three possibilities and one reminder that we don’t know.”
CHIBI: “That’s not very good detective work.”
MARA: “It’s better than accusing someone without evidence.”
Chibi looks at the broken moon.
CHIBI: “If we find out who broke it, does that fix it?”
MARA: “No.”
CHIBI: “Does it bring everybody back?”
MARA: “No.”
CHIBI: “Then we need more than an answer.”
MARA: “What do we need?”
Chibi turns on the little lighthouse he made from a biscuit tin.
CHIBI: “Light. And people to help.”
Mara smiles.
MARA: “That’s what Delvers do.”
CHIBI: “They go looking for people?”
MARA: “Sometimes. They explore, discover things, and try to survive.”
CHIBI: “Then let’s fix our moon.”
Together, they glue the paper lantern back together. The crack remains visible.
MARA: “It isn’t perfect.”
CHIBI: “It’s still our moon.”
He switches on the lighthouse. Its beam crosses the little harbour.
MARA: “Perhaps that’s the important part. Even when the world is broken, someone still has to keep the light burning.”
CHIBI: “And bring biscuits.”
MARA: “And bring biscuits.”
They turn off the lighthouse and leave the room.
Behind them, the light switches itself on again.
Its beam moves towards an unfinished corner of their map.
Three quiet knocks come from beneath the table.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
And something, somewhere in the darkness, waits for an answer.
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