The Timekeeper
Among The Seven, The Timekeeper played one of the most essential roles in the Eternal Universe, governing the flow of time and ensuring that all things moved forward in their destined course. Unlike The Architect, who shaped the structure of existence, or The Reaper, who presided over endings, The Timekeeper ensured that time itself remained unchained, continuous, and inevitable. It was neither creator nor destroyer but the force that made existence dynamic, preventing stagnation and ensuring the perpetual march of progress and decay.
Without The Timekeeper, the Eternal Universe would have remained in a static state, untouched by the passage of moments, forever locked in an unchanging existence. The Timekeeper’s influence extended beyond the physical world, shaping history, fate, and the rhythm of all things, from the birth of stars to the final breath of mortals.
The Role in Creation
When The One first shaped the universe, there was no concept of before or after—only an eternal, unmoving present. It was The Timekeeper who introduced temporal progression, ensuring that events unfolded in a sequence, that growth and transformation could take place, and that the story of existence could be written through the passage of moments.
The Timekeeper’s power was woven into every aspect of reality. It controlled the cycles of day and night, the aging of all living beings, and the rhythm of celestial bodies moving through space. Time was not meant to be controlled, only guided, and The Timekeeper ensured that while individuals might influence their own fates, they could never halt or reverse the passage of time itself.
It worked closely with The Balancer, ensuring that change occurred in measured steps, and with The Reaper, overseeing that all things reached their appointed end in due course. However, The Timekeeper often found itself at odds with The Dreamweaver, whose visions of endless possibilities threatened to unravel the natural course of history, and with The Guardian, who sometimes sought to preserve and protect what was meant to fade.
Personality and Ideals
The Timekeeper was a being of precision, patience, and foresight. It did not interfere with the choices of individuals but ensured that the mechanisms of time itself remained intact. To The Timekeeper, all things had their place in the grand design, and while mortals and immortals alike might struggle against fate, they could never truly escape it.
Unlike The Guardian, who saw its duty as one of preservation, The Timekeeper embraced transformation. It believed that change was necessary, that even the most powerful beings must eventually fade, and that time itself was the great equalizer, ensuring that no force—mortal or divine—could reign forever.
The Timekeeper was neither merciful nor cruel, neither sympathetic nor indifferent. It did not judge, only observed. Where others sought to build, protect, or destroy, The Timekeeper ensured that nothing lasted unchanged, that even the gods themselves were subject to the inexorable flow of time.
Depictions of The Timekeeper
The Timekeeper is often depicted as a radiant, celestial figure, clad in robes that shimmer like flowing sands caught in an eternal hourglass. Its form is never entirely solid, as if it exists in multiple moments at once, always shifting yet never disappearing. Some portray it with an intricate clockwork halo, gears endlessly turning, symbolizing the mechanics of time.
Symbols associated with The Timekeeper include hourglasses, spirals, and interlocking rings, each representing the unbreakable continuity of existence. Some ancient texts depict The Timekeeper holding a staff entwined with golden threads, representing the flow of fate, or a great celestial clock, ever ticking toward an unseen future.
The Eternal War and The Timekeeper’s Role
When the Eternal War began, The Timekeeper found itself in a difficult position. It did not seek war nor peace, for both were part of time’s natural course. However, it saw that without intervention, the conflict could spiral into a destructive loop, repeating endlessly without resolution.
Initially, The Timekeeper attempted to remain neutral, observing rather than participating. However, as the war escalated, it became clear that the very fabric of time was at risk—The Balancer struggled to maintain order, The Dreamweaver’s illusions threatened to distort history itself, and The Reaper’s role became unhinged as death became uncontrolled and unnatural.
Realizing that the universe’s timeline had to progress forward rather than collapse into chaos, The Timekeeper ultimately sided with the Loyal Ones. It did not do so out of loyalty, but because it believed that the Rebel Ones sought to disrupt the very flow of existence itself. Tardok’s ambition, unchecked, could have led to a future where time unraveled, where cause and effect ceased to hold meaning.
Despite its immense power, The Timekeeper did not fight as others did. Instead, it manipulated the battlefield through the very nature of time—it slowed enemies, accelerated allies, and ensured that key moments played out in accordance with fate’s grand design. Some say that The Timekeeper foresaw every battle before it occurred, guiding its forces toward inevitable victory.
Yet even The Timekeeper could not predict the full consequences of the Unstable Shard. When the Calamity struck, time itself shuddered. The natural order of past, present, and future was nearly destroyed, and though The Timekeeper worked desperately to stabilize it, some believe that echoes of broken timelines still remain, lingering as anomalies throughout existence.
Imprisonment and Legacy
After the war, The Timekeeper, like the other Seven, was sealed within the Eternal Plane, cut off from the universe it once guided. Yet time does not stop, and its influence remains. Many scholars believe that time’s continued progression is evidence that The Timekeeper’s essence still lingers, ensuring that the universe moves ever forward, even without its direct guidance.
Some believe that glimpses of the future, moments of déjà vu, and even certain prophecies are remnants of The Timekeeper’s power, echoes of a force that was never meant to be caged.
The Eternal Shards of The Timekeeper
The Eternal Shards created by The Timekeeper are among the most mysterious of all. They sparkle with a bright, rhythmic amber hue, reflecting the flow and passage of time. Unlike the raw power of The Architect’s shards or the protective nature of The Guardian’s, The Timekeeper’s shards grant their wielders a unique attunement to time itself.
Legends claim that those who possess a shard of The Timekeeper can perceive moments before they happen, slow or hasten events around them, or even glimpse the threads of fate. However, these shards are said to be dangerous in the hands of those who do not respect the natural course of time. Those who seek to bend time to their will rather than guide it may find themselves forever lost outside of it.
The Timekeeper in the Present Age
Though sealed beyond the Eternal Gate, The Timekeeper’s presence endures in every ticking second. Time has never faltered, and some believe that it still watches, ensuring that the story of the universe unfolds as it must.
There are those who seek to restore The Timekeeper, believing that its return would bring clarity and certainty to an uncertain world. Others, however, fear that if The Timekeeper were to return, it might erase all deviations from fate, ensuring that the past, present, and future remain exactly as they were meant to be—whether for good or ill.
For now, The Timekeeper remains a mystery, a force unseen but ever-present, the silent watcher of eternity, waiting beyond the veil of time itself.
Comments