Work Text:
Time did not always exist for space did not always exist.
So when the first became the second followed.
Twins, interwoven into each other.
There is a reason why SpaceTime is considered one.
For time cannot exist without space and space cannot exist without time.
The two were siblings in all the way twins tended to be.
Before them there was nothing and between them became the existence of many.
First came existence, a fabric woven and expanding throughout the emptiness.
And within that existence came the stars and planets.
Galaxies and nebulas and all the great expanses that fill the cosmos.
And within that came life and Time solidified.
Space continued to expand and fill in more dimensions than a human could perceive.
But Time slipped into a nebulous ocean.
Once vast and incomprehensive, now billowing and flowing like the tides on the shore.
When consciousness took hold and humans began to ask, Time changed again.
Into threads of fate, of destiny, of the constant onward flowing forward movement.
Never stopping.
Never slowing.
Within Space, Time was still nebulous and interchanging.
Beyond human comprehension.
But on Earth, with humans growing in number.
In death, with those passed on growing exponentially with each moment, each breath.
Time took Form.
Crystalizing into an embodiment that could be perceived.
That could interact.
Time took many shapes.
Woven tapestries of interchanging universes, each built on multiverses of decisions and destinies.
Mirrored oceans where all existed at once and not at all.
Fractured crystalline gemstones with life and death and in between reflected upon each surface.
And many forms even beyond those.
Until they finally settled on a humanish looking creature.
And settled a home for themself in a tower they built with some help from Space.
And from their tower, they watched and played.
Space came and went.
Without a care and for many an exploration.
Curious by nature, and adventurous by existence.
Time enjoyed their visits.
Enjoyed their stories and tales.
Until one day.
Space didn’t come back.
Time did not mind at first.
After all, Space had taken many eons before on one adventure that turned into three then into ninety-two.
The stories were long and the tales were many.
They shared many a laugh that return.
So Time did not notice.
Until they realized they could not See.
For with Space and Time as close as they were, they could travel anywhere anytime at a single thought.
It was with this sudden blindness that Time became fractured.
Shifting in ages reflective of the Living.
Before stable, now unbalanced.
It was at this time, they became Known.
The observants found Time and Bound the weekend Ancient.
Forcing themselves upon what remained of Time’s Vision.
Scarring them.
They gave Time a name, for they refused to acknowledge the truth of what they had done out of a misguided sense of self importance.
So Time became Clockwork.
Locked in his tower.
Alone.
No longer the embodiment of time itself.
Simply a Master that could control Time in ways that no other could perceive.