A device not of this era. A confluence of displaced moments, echoes of realities that never quite coalesced. The Chronotron doesn't simply record time; it *holds* it, fragments suspended in a state of perpetual flux. It’s said to be fueled by the resonance of forgotten dreams and the lingering sorrow of unfulfilled potential. Its purpose remains a mystery, guarded by anomalies and distortions that defy conventional understanding. Some whisper it’s a key, others a prison. Most simply acknowledge its unsettling presence.
3477 CE - The Collapse
The Obsidian Library wasn’t always obsidian. It began as a repository of knowledge from a civilization that worshipped the concept of ‘perfect recollection.’ They believed that every action, every thought, imprinted itself onto the fabric of reality, and that by meticulously cataloging these impressions, they could achieve a state of absolute understanding. But their pursuit of perfect recollection warped their reality. The library consumed everything, erasing not just books, but entire cities, individuals, and ultimately, the very principles of linear time. The librarians, now spectral echoes, still patrol its halls, endlessly searching for a solution they can't articulate, lost in an infinite loop of archived moments.
1788 BC - The Lost Continent of Aethelgard
He was obsessed with mapping the impossible. Elias Thorne, a cartographer from a world that existed solely within the folds of a swirling nebula, believed he could chart the edges of reality itself. He constructed a device, a complex network of lenses and gears, that he called the ‘Chronometric Compass.’ It wasn't meant to travel through time, but to *sense* it, to measure the curvature of temporal distortions. When he finally activated it, the compass shattered, and he vanished, leaving behind only a single, meticulously drawn map – a representation of a continent that never existed, a testament to a delusion that consumed an entire civilization. His voice, a low murmur, can sometimes be heard within the Chronotron, a constant lament for what was never meant to be.
8999 AB - The Age of Resonance
The Silent Singer was a being of pure energy, existing solely within the temporal currents. It didn’t speak, but its presence resonated with the echoes of countless songs – melodies from lost cultures, forgotten prayers, and the unspoken desires of sentient beings across timelines. The Chronotron absorbed its essence, amplifying its influence, creating pockets of heightened awareness and unsettling premonitions. Its disappearance coincided with a significant shift in the Chronotron’s stability, a period of increased temporal instability. Some theorize it attempted to ‘harmonize’ the discordant echoes, but ultimately, it was consumed by the device’s own chaotic resonance.
“Time is not a river, but a shattered mirror. Each shard reflects a possibility, a regret, a potential. The Chronotron… it doesn’t just hold these fragments; it *amplifies* them.”
Created by the Anomalous Research Collective. All timelines are subject to revision.