The Timemaster by lordi
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
No one knows where he came from. No one knows when he will leave.
But everyone knows this: whoever sees him is either already too late—or about to become permanently behind schedule.
The Timemaster.
He sits upon a throne forged from shattered clocks and rusted seconds, welded together from the final moments of those who believed they still had “five more minutes.”
The machine is driven by gears no one ever built, lubricated with the cold sweat of wasted opportunities.
He has sat there for ages. Motionless. Watchful. Rigid as a clock hand on stimulants.
Around him turns a mechanism made of centuries, vibrating to the rhythm of his mood. And his mood has never once smiled.
His gaze?
Look into his eyes and you will see everything at once: every decision, every crossroads, every “maybe tomorrow.” Most of all, you will see your finest mistakes.
And that is not even the worst part.
The worst part is this:
He travels.
Not from place to place—that would be far too ordinary. He leaps from moment to moment as if they were puddles.
He was there when time first began to tick. He was there when Atlantis sank—right on schedule, of course.
He whispered to Marie Curie, “Oh, come on. Read the label later.”
And when the dinosaurs died out, he stood nearby, slowly applauding and saying only:
“Timing, folks. It was all about timing.”
Some claim he can see the future.
Wrong.
He writes it—with a pocket watch whose hands move only when someone, somewhere, thinks:
“If only I had…”
While you consume time like electricity left running on standby, he uses it like a moving walkway in a duty-free shop: a year here, a minute there, a mocking déjà vu in the middle of the apocalypse.
His palace? A labyrinth of echoes.
There, the years weep. Hallways built from what-ifs, doors that can be crossed only by those who never hesitated—and never look back.
And if you meet him—and you will, someday, somewhere, perhaps even yesterday—he will ask you only one question:
“Do you want to go back? Or do you want to get it right this time?”
Whatever you do, do not answer:
“I don't know.”
Because if you hesitate, you may never again understand what now even means.
Comments (5)
Super Story - Great Scene !...
Many thanks, my friend
Cheers- Peer..
Absolutbeautiful!!!!!!👍🙋♂️
Thank you very much, Saby55
Lordi, I don't have time to write what I want right now, but I want to tell you that I've read 3 of your pieces earlier today, and sir: You can write. It's eerie too, because a number of your approaches are familiar to me, as I've taken similar approaches for some time. (Only, my prose tends to be more wordy, gnarled, and lengthy; a style I've had to work on for some time.) The Sturmkäfer tales are awash in wonderful metaphors for the insanity of the tank's construction and its elephantine lack of anything approaching military precision. it's a meticulously written macabre cartoon. The Noah piece was deliciously silly and ironic. (The "sweetheart"s were perfect for your chatterlings---Quassein---who sound like delightful little snobs who call everyone "dahhh-ling" and spend 20 minutes on the overly salty caviar they ate at Maxim's last night (and were aghast!)---though your characters are more gentle than that. They're a delight.) And you weave in all kinds of wonderful observations---"Every dumb idea in human history starts this way./With a man standing before disaster saying:/"Yes. But basically, it works." Or "the military concept was roughly: 'Something is probably over there.'" Or pastries like "the entire hall vibrated like a nervous pudding"...Or (in responses to the dinosaurs going extinct), "timing, folks. It's all about timing." I've looked at the Deutsch, and though I'm a novice at your language, it seems like your translation does a pretty strong job. Your work with it pays off: The English reads very naturally.
I'll leave a few more comments in the next few days. And read more. But your writing deserves a lot more attention than it gets. When I saw your adroid with a teddy bear --- which I saw after seeing Johnny's video --- I knew you had a special sensibility, with a subtle sense of humor. Now, with your prose, I can really see a connection. I'm not here as much as I'd like; but I will keep an eye out for your writing. You can write. (Du kannst echt gut schreiben, ja?) (Mein Deutsch sucks---do you have a word for "sucks"? Whatever it is, mein Deutsch does it. But you can write...) And btw, to your name for that tank, we had to memorize "Schutzengrabenvernichtungspanzerkampfwagen" in class. Your language combines words like DNA chains! How do you live with that??? (I was told that word was actually printed in 2 or 3 smaller words, but we learned it as one. Anyway, I'll be back...never stop writing! You have the bug...
Wow—thank you so much. Your background as a writer really shows; your comments are like little stories in themselves! :D I’m absolutely delighted that you enjoy my little fun stories.
Are you learning German right now, or do you have German relatives? I mean, it’s not exactly a common language for people to pick up. And yes, German has these magnificent "word monsters" (like Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitän—Danube steamship captain) and rather convoluted phrasing. That’s where a bit of a problem arises: if it’s the only way you know how to express things, you can use that to craft specific wordplay that—at least with my lousy school-level English—doesn't translate directly. A lot gets lost, and I often have to use a couple of online tools just to salvage it a bit. Unfortunately, there are some stories I can’t translate at all, because they lose their meaning and humor in the process.
That makes me all the more pleased when those painstakingly crafted translations actually land well and convey at least some of the jokes. Thanks so much for taking the time to read them! :)
I studied German in high school and college...haven't studied it since. But in that time, we read some of the classics (Goethe, Schiller, Rilke, Thoman Mann, etc) so I got a feel for the poetic nature of the language---but just a feel, as I was never that good. (I also learned Deutsch as a classical musician, esp w/ Bach, who used mainly German texts. That helped my German improve.) Deutsch has CASES. It's very difficult for outsiders. And though English is---at its base---a Germanic language, it so messed up its roots, learning German is very difficult for us. I can appreciate how many of your phrases could be difficult to translate. But if I'm enjoying them as much as I am---in English---I'm sure they're much better in Deutsch. (And the fact that you translate for us, to begin with, is much appreciated. As an English speaker, I feel like a spoiled Prince, because most websites speak my language whereas I don't speak theirs; totally unfair! I'm grateful you translated yours---the English feels totally natural, as do your comments, etc.) I'll be back for more soon. Schönes Wochenende!
It’s interesting that you studied German in college. The classics are great, of course, but the language has evolved significantly since then—not to mention the various dialects and slang. The issue is that English—even though it has changed too—remains a Romance language. German, on the other hand, is fundamentally a Germanic language with some Romance influences. We still have many unique features that simply don't exist in English anymore—such as the four grammatical cases, the three genders, and strong versus weak verb conjugation. That can make direct translation difficult at times (at least for my lousy English). I’ve tried hard to make sure you can mostly understand my scribblings, but as I said, I’d be lost without a translator. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to meet very nice people on my travels who took my terrible English in stride with a friendly smile and were patient when I had to explain things in a roundabout way. Still, I’m glad when the effort pays off and the message gets across clearly in the end.