Video Game / Timecrest

"The meteors will obliterate everything, and all I can do is watch."

Timecrest is an interactive fiction game written by Lisa J. Skye. Originally published by Sneaky Crab Inc. for iOS in 2015, the game has since received two more massive updates during 2016 and 2020; each update adding another 5 chapters to the overall story. Currently, the game is composed of three parts: Timecrest 1: Fated Connections, Timecrest 2: The Door, and Timecrest 3: Luthor. The game offers built-in blind accessibility options and has over 500,000 words. In addition, Timecrest utilizes real-world time progression to advance its plot alongside having the player themselves being an active character who shapes the plot.

In the world of Alyncia, a young mage named Ash Elden contacts the Player as meteors descend from the sky and plan to destroy the world. Upon realizing they have some power in the world of Alyncia, the Player turns back time to stop the meteors from ever descending. Now in the past, the Player and Ash decide to fight for the future of Alyncia by stopping the powerful Master Chronos.

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Timecrest contains examples of:

Timecrest 1: Fated Connections

• Ambiguous Gender: Ash's gender is never stated in-game, nor are any words to indicate it.
• Anti-Magic: Upon a new game+, if the Player bought a dispel ring, they will be completely unaffected by illusions. This allows Ash to access the teleportation glyph on Mount Asura, see through Petora's Riley illusion, and see Petora disguised as the hooded man.
• Attack Hello:
  • Immediately what the Hooded Man does to Ash whenever they meet.
  • What Ezra does to Ash when he notices that Ash had been following him.
• Bag of Holding: Riley gives one to Ash at the end of Chapter 1.
• Big Brother Worship: Inadvertently, Ash idolizes Chronos before learning that Chronos unfreezes the meteors. Since Chronos is Ash's older brother, Ash technically worships their own sibling for a time.
• Black Cloak: In Chapter 1, a hooded man tries killing Ash after the Player turns back time. He appears several times throughout Timecrest 1 and is predominately the big bad to Ash. This becomes even more confounded when it's revealed that the hooded man is actually both Guildmasters Fulgur and Petora who alternate the persona of the hooded man; the former being the hooded man while the latter makes an illusion to emulate the persona. That said, only the former can be found out upon the first playthrough via a downer ending. The other information can only be accessed upon a new game+.
• Blood Magic: Specifically, Riley's blood is used to make Aion float.
• Blow You Away: If Ash learns Levitas, they start on their path to becoming a wind mage.
• Blue Blood: Downplayed. Although Riley is a princess, she is not the leader of any nation. Besides acting as a political figurehead, she has little political power and no personal guard. In fact, Riley's primary renown is created by her being the sole survivor of the Valdorian disease rather than being royalty. That said, there is a reason why Riley survived the disease.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: You can spend Time Crystals to speed up the wait time, but while they can be earned in-game, buying more costs real money.
• Broken Pedestal: When you eventually tell Ash that Chronos will destroy the world, this will occur.
• Bookends: Assuming the Player is going for the true ending of Timecrest 1, the meteors will descend upon Alyncia and the exact same text in the prologue will appear at the ending until Chronos saves Ash and destroys the meteors.
• Death from Above: In the prologue, Ash almost is killed by being crushed by a meteor. It's also possible to see the entirety of Lyall be crushed by a meteor swarm on the Dispair in Lyall route.
• Death Mountain: Mount Asura is highly dangerous to any who tries to climb it. In order to actually scale it, the player needs an Ignis Amulet and possibly a dispel ring to not run out of time in Chapter 5. It doesn't help that Petora is also there to delay Ash.
• Deus ex Machina:
  • In the prologue, the Player reverses time in order to save Ash from the meteors despite just having met them. The Player also saves Ash several more times throughout their adventures by reversing time, all of which being from near-death encounters.
  • In the true ending, Chronos also performs this by destroying the meteors in order to save Ash.
• Dishing Out Dirt: If Ash learns Gravitas, they start on their path to becoming an earth mage.
• Dragon Rider: Ezra rides in on an Emerald Dragon in front of Ash and is constantly referred to as 'The Dragon Rider' by Ash before learning his name.
• Early-Bird Cameo: If the Player convinces Ash to escape to the library in Chapter 1, Roger can be heard striking up a conversation with a mage in the background. As a point of reference, Roger isn't officially met by Ash until Chapter 7.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: In order to get the Despair in Lyall ending in Chapter 5, the Player must waste enough time without finding where Chronos is in order for the Player to get the option to travel back to Lyall for a second time. Then, have Ash travel to Lyall in order for them to watch their entire village be destroyed by the meteors. Afterward, do not encourage Ash to continue their quest. Once done, Ash will close the watch and the ending will be achieved. What makes this ending more frustrating to get is the amount of real-life time you must wait in order to get it.
• Endless Daytime: Due to the sky being frozen in time, Alyncia is always like this.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Although most often referred to by his title, Chronos's name is Luthor Timecrest.
• Featureless Protagonist: The Player is one alongside Ash.
• Floating Continent: Aion would qualify and is only accessible to Ash by using a teleport orb. Uniquely justified in that the reason it floats is due to Chronos harvesting Riley's blood in order to power the palace's flight functions. This feature of Aion is further elaborated on at the end of Chapter 14 in Timecrest 3: Luthor.
• Gratuitous Latin: It's established that all the spells' names in Alyncia are either in full Latin, or a mixture of Latin and English. In addition, several characters' names are also in Latin such as Chronos & Ignis.
• Human Disguise: Inverted. Rather than disguising as humans, humans disguise themselves as Alyncians in order to not be discriminated against ^note Even though Alyncians and Humans look identical to one another and only differ in heritage.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: Petora is known for having this. The Player can prompt Ash to ask her why she has this type of hair ^note several times throughout their adventure but she will never give you an answer. The Player can partially learn the reason behind her hair, although only in Timecrest 3: Luthor if certain conditions have been met during and preceding Chapter 14.
• King on His Deathbed: Quite literally, King Janus is lying on his deathbed & can be visited by Ash in Chapter 4. Once met, Ash can choose to put him out of his misery, or keep him alive out of pity.
• Long-Lost Relative: At the end of the book, Ash is shocked to find out that Timecrest is their brother.
• Loony Fan: The Timecrest Merchant is one for Riley. Although not stalker-esquely creepy, the Merchant still is quite creepy in many uncomfortable ways towards her.
• Masterof Illusion: Petora fits this role quite well as she is a guildmaster of the Timecrest guild who specializes in illusionary magic.
• Meditation Powerup: Ash can do this during Chapter 3 if the Player encourages Ash to pursue Ezra.
• Mercy Kill: Ash can do this to King Janus in Chapter 4 if the Player convinces them to kill him.
• New Game Plus: Upon starting a new game, the Player will transfer over certain items to add more plot and story paths into the next playthrough. All gold, teleport orbs, time crystals, and relationship points will also be carried over between games.
• One-Man Army: In Chapter 3, Chronos kills the entire army of Valdor alongside any surviving Valdorians who didn't succumb to the Valdorian disease. Despite seeing this, Ash still tries to run at him in rage which obviously does not end well.
• Person of Mass Destruction: As revealed in the prologue, Chronos has enough power to destroy all of Alyncia by unfreezing the meteors stuck in the sky.
• Play Every Day: Ash introduces you to his dog, which can give you some gold every real-world day, which can be spent on items such as teleport orbs.
• Rousing Speech: In order to prevent the Despair in Lyall ending, the player can make one to Ash.
• Royal Blood: On account of her being a princess, Riley has it.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: If the Player has Ash pursue Ezra during Chapter 3, Ezra can become this by almost outright killing Ash, then taking him in as an apprentice for a stint. Although this adds on some wait-time, he causes Ash to learn a higher-level spell as a result of the ''training'' .
• Super Window Jump: Played for Laughs. The Player can peer pressure Ash into jumping through a window in Chapter 1. Ash raises many concerns about doing this, but if the Player can successfully convince Ash, they will still jump through the window. This results in Ash breaking quite a few bones, but learning a new spell in the process.
• Terrible Trio: Applies to Chronos, Fulgur, and Petora.
• Time Travel: The Player has the ability to turn back time in moments where it's needed most. The hooded man also seems to sense time travel, but he really has no ability to do so. Instead, it's actually Chronos who can sense time travel.
• Twist Ending: In the true ending, it's revealed that Ash and Chronos are siblings as Chronos saves Ash and Alyncia from the meteors which he apparently unfroze.
• Unreliable Narrator: Throughout the entirety of Timecrest 1, Ash narrates what happens to the Player and usually imparts their personal take on the events that happened. This of course leads to some facts being told to the Player being incorrect or misconstrued by Ash. In addition, Ash may occasionally lie or hide facts from the Player.
• Wham Line: Delivered by Chronos in the true ending:

  Chronos: Join me, Ash Timecrest.

• World's Smartest Man: Often referred to as Chronos due to his mastery in time spells and stopping of the meteors by freezing them in the sky.

Timecrest 2: The Door

• Above the Gods:
  • In some ways, Chronos is more powerful than Ezra considering they're able to go toe to toe in battle, Chronos was able to seal Ezra in the Chronogem, and Chronos was able to delay and destroy Ezra's meteors.
  • While only revealed in the Memory Oracle, Alvin is arguably more powerful than Ezra as well. It also doesn't help that Alvin is awfully persuasive.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Parodied. Roger remarks that he believes himself to be a bad boy in response to wondering what type of guys Elise likes. This is ironic considering their relationship.
• Amnesiac Hero: Done in part with A.C.. Although he remembers most of his past, there is a small part of it that he cannot remember which is unusual considering his near-perfect memory.
• And I Must Scream: It's revealed that Ezra was trapped in the Chronogem for over 10 years. Considering how he's the god of Alyncia, being confined to a prison for any amount of time without access to the outside world would be terrible.
• Big Eater: A.C. has quite an appetite and wolfs down pretty much anything that comes his way. He's even gained a slight reputation for his eating prowess at restaurants he frequents.
• Birdcaged: Cera lives in a birdcage. Presumably, this is because she's imprisoned in it, although Roger won't give Ash a solid answer.
• Broken Pedestal: While presented with the fact several times, Ash refuses to believe that Ignis is a murdering arsonist. It doesn't negate the fact that Ignis is all those things...
• Celibate Hero: A.C. comments outright that his training and sword are far more important to him than any girl would be. This isn't necessarily true however as A.C. can harbor some romantic feelings for Allison if the Player encourages Ash to speak about her often.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Ash tries doing this to the Player when they ask about what happened on Mount Asura.
• Chick Magnet: A.C. is an accidental one due to his training and status in the guild. Although, he doesn't really like his incidental skills...
• Cool Mask: The woman in the bone mask has this.
• Cool Sword: A.C.'s sword, ''The Breakfast'' is remarked as such by Ash, A.C., and possibly the Player.

  A.C.: Yeah. I like breakfast and my sword breaks things fast so the name was obvious.

• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Elise, especially to Roger. In fact, Roger calls her out on being so sarcastic all the time.
  • Partially also Ho-Ho in regards to Elise.
• Door of Doom: The titular door of Timecrest 2: The Door. The Player can either encourage Ash to open it or leave it closed.
• Dr. Jerk: Ho-Ho acts this way in regards to Elise. Although he's quite nice to the rest of Team 13, he has a tendency of making snide remarks and sarcastic answers to Elise.
• Embarrassing First Name: If Ash tries to find his teammates in Chapter 6, they will read various mailboxes with dubious names on them including Banner Magi and Artworst Mendel. Ash openly comments about the latter name being bad while the Player can weigh in on the former's following suit.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Elise and A.C. had met each other before the formation of Team 13, although A.C. doesn't remember their meeting.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The entirety of Team 13 with the substitution of the conflicted would qualify.
  • Elise is the cynic.
  • Ash is the optimist.
  • A.C. is the realist.
  • Roger is the conflicted.
• Giant Spider: Ash must face one after traveling to Wispy Brook.
• Good News, Bad News: Ash gives the Player a choice between hearing the good news or the bad news first in the opening of Chapter 6.
• Heel–Face Turn: Despite being the primary antagonist of Timecrest 1, Chronos acts as an ally to Ash and tries to better their friendship throughout Timecrest 2. This is due in part to Ash misunderstanding Chronos' intentions from the get-go. However, Chronos doesn't stay this way as can be seen by him allying himself with Ignis at the end of Chapter 10.
• Heroic Fire Rescue: Unless the Player convinces Ash otherwise, they will run into a forest fire to see if anybody needs rescuing.
• I Shall Taunt You: What Elise does to several characters. Especially effective during the trip to Windsorhowl if Ash doesn't have enough gold, where Elise taunts a guard about his role in a coworker's death in order to get a glass of water.
• Jerkass: Almost immediately declared as such in regards to Connor by Team 13 when they first meet. It also doesn't help that if Ash runs into Connor at the Timecrest Guild, Connor will greet Ash by blatantly attacking them and calling them weak.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • What Ignis does to A.C. if Ash goes to Windsorhowl and what Ignis does to the victims of the Tremble Cave Incident.
  • Also what the eyeless man can do to Ash in Wispy Brook if the Player doesn't figure out what to do there.
• King Incognito: Roger, who is actually the Savior Prince of Windsorhowl, disguises himself as a regular mage to Team 13. However, this disguise attempt fails to work on Riley and Elise who immediately know who Roger is. The latter of which plays along with their masquerade while the former reveals it.
• Laughing Mad: Fulgur has a tendency of laughing aloud at minor things which aren't all that funny. This is much further elaborated on in Timecrest 3: Luthor, although certain aspects of his character are illustrated.
• Lightning Bruiser: A.C.'s fighting style is very resemblant to this. He's also the most physically adept member of Team 13 due to his training. Also surprisingly fitting given his prowess with lightning magic.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Uniquely, A.C. is one despite being accepted by the Timecrest Guild. It doesn't negate his fighting ability though. Subverted. While A.C. doesn't remember that he can use magic, he still can and is quite proficient in it.
• Lonely Funeral: If Ash went with Riley to Mount Asura, her funeral will be held very suddenly with only Ash and Chronos in attendance ^note  assuming Ash even attends .
• Making a Splash: Roger and Alan are both water mages whose primary abilities revolve around either conjuring water, or using water to assail their foes.
• Merchant City: Aurumhalla is one populated by various merchants and vendors.
• Painting the Medium:
  • During Timecrest 2: The Door, the player receives ominous messages from Alvin who speaks entirely in red text with a different font than the usual white text and font present throughout the rest of the game.
  • Similarly, Chronos also speaks in light blue text, although using the same font as normal.
  • Luthor also briefly speaks, and he does so in the same color as Chronos, but in the font of Alvin's text.
• Rei Ayanami Expy: Elise first comes off like this, but is a bit more expressive; mostly to Roger. She softens overtime though, especially if Ash makes efforts to befriend her.
• Sadistic Choice: Several choices are like this to the Player.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Roger does this twice (although the second time requires certain requirements to be met). In Chapter 8, Roger refuses to help the rest of Team 13 look for others in the forest fire and even prompts Ash to do the same. In Chapter 10, if Ash went with Riley instead of him to Windsorhowl in Chapter 8, Roger will get infuriated with Ash in an argument and will leave Team 13.
• Secretly Rich:
  • A.C. by proxy is rich on account of his brother being rich.
  • Roger is also rich considering he is the Savior Prince of Windsorhowl. That is until he gets disowned by the king.
• Shock and Awe: Olliver is a guildmaster of the Timecrest Guild specializing in lightning magic. A.C. also has such magic qualities in lightning magic, although he doesn't remember it.
• Sibling Triangle: Roger and Alan are both implied to have been infatuated with Cera when they were all younger.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: If Ash went with Riley to Mount Asura, Ezra will appear and ask various questions to Ash. Following his final question, Ezra will suddenly kill Riley and reveal to Ash that she agreed to die to Ezra if she returned to him.
• Thirsty Desert: If Ash decides to travel to Windsorhowl with Roger, Team 13 must cross one of these.
• Time Skip: Downplayed. Timecrest 2: The Door occurs weeks after the events of Timecrest 1.
• Trap Is the Only Option: Ash knowingly walks into one at the end of Chapter 9 when heading to Wispy Brook.
• Unaffected by Spice: If Ash travels to Lyall after visiting Ezra, and Lyall was not destroyed in Timecrest 1: Fated Connections, Team 13 will all begin eating at Ash's house. During this time, the Player can encourage Ash to make bets with the other members. If Ash bets that A.C. can't eat their mom's spicy food, A.C.'s spice tolerance is fully revealed. This is contrasted by Roger, who minutes earlier, had the opposite reaction.
• The Unfavorite: Elise was an orphan who knew little about her birth father on account of being his bastard daughter. However, her half-siblings were not orphaned and remained at their father's residence (despite one of them also being a bastard child).
• We Can Rule Together: Chronos tries to get Ash to join him throughout the entirety of Timecrest 2: The Door. This eventually culminates in whether the Player chooses to trust or distrust Chronos by the end of Chapter 10.
• White Mask of Doom: Scarlet wears a mask made of bones in order to hide her identity.
• Winged Humanoid: Riley reveals that she actually has wings which she uses to get on and off of Aion.

Timecrest 3: Luthor

• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Ezra's dragon is named Greeny.
  • Sol calls Scarlet “Scar.

Arranged Marriage: If the Player stays with Luthor instead of requesting to go with Scarlet to the concert in the Altered Past route, it will be revealed that Olliver and Rita have been arranged to be wed by their parents.

• Artificial Gravity: Luthor created the aura containers by manipulating different gravitational fields in order to maintain and contain spells in a singular object.
• Back from the Dead: The Player can revive any Timecrest by reversing their death. This doesn't work on others' deaths though...
• Ban on Magic: Certain spells and magical artifacts are banned by the Master Council for being too dangerous or experimental in nature. In the Unaltered Past route, Luthor eventually gets imprisoned by recreating his memory deletion serum which is one of the aforementioned banned items.
• Big Brother Instinct: Luthor is very protective of Ash ever since he permanently scarred them as a child. As such, Luthor is willing to accept Alvin's deal when Ash dies in the Unaltered Past route. This, in turn, causes for the deaths of almost all the Valdorians, the persecution of all humans & human descendants, and the deaths of his own parents. If anything is to go off of, Luthor will do some crazy things to protect Ash.
• Blind Bag Collectables: In the Unaltered Past route, the Chowmein Cow is having a promotional event where they give out blind bags in certain orders containing figurines of the Masters. Luthor just so happens to gain his own figure and can keep it ^note  if the Player has a high enough friendship level with Luthor , or give it away to Ash.
• Bluff Worked Too Well: Sol broke up with Rita for seemingly unclear reasons when their relationship was going well. In actuality, Sol broke up with Rita to see if she would ask to come back to him and continue their relationship. If she returned to him, he was going to reveal his entire plan and marry her on the spot, however, she never came back to him out of sadness due to the breakup.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Player can do this twice. The first occurs when the Player asks Luthor to see what happens after Timecrest 2. The second can only occur in the Altered Past route if the Player mentions that they can also make Luthor back into a Timecrest by replaying the game. Scarlet proceeds to freak out at this revelation, while Luthor reasons out possible motives for the Player deciding not to replay the game. The Player can either further break the fourth wall, or back peddle to give the two reasons as to why they don't replay the game and why they aren't Alvin who's swindling them.
• Collective Identity: Master Chronos is the shared title used originally by Alvin, then by Luthor. The Player can also adopt this title before Luthor figures out they aren't Alvin.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The entirety of Timecrest 3 is a flashback upon Luthor's one.
• Death Is the Only Option: In the fight against Petora, if Luthor is losing, he can threaten the former with this gambit in order to keep hold of the watch. This ends up succeeding due to the fact that the watch will transfer to another human if Luthor dies, so Petora decides to leave, or bring Luthor into medical care if he's injured.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • In order to speak with Alvin, Luthor eventually commits suicide by jumping off of the Sovereign Eye since Alvin would only speak with Luthor if he killed himself.
  • Also, the Altered Future ending requires for Luthor to commit suicide by jumping off the Sovereign Eye a second time in Chapter 14 with the Player choosing not to revive them.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: Luthor can transform into gusts of air using Levitas Magnus: Like Air.
• Emotion Suppression: In order to handle Alvin's schemes, Luthor begs Ezra to remove his emotions. Ezra does so, and Luthor adopts the name of Chronos.
• The Exile: Alvin was banished from Alyncia by Ezra in order to save the world. This, in turn, caused Alvin to concoct the almost millennium-long plot to convince Ezra to return to him.
• Faking the Dead:
  • In the Valdorian Mage Trials, Luthor can drag Morca's unconscious body to the edge of the arena and cover him up with dirt to make it seem like he's dead. This is so effective that it fools everyone in the arena, including the audience into thinking he'd died.
  • In the Altered Past route, Sol fakes his own death for months in order test where Scarlet's loyalties lie.
• Featureless Protagonist: Lampshaded by Luthor and Alvin discussing their reasons for why they haven't asked the Player for their appearance yet. Both claim that they wish to see the Player for the first time if they ever can travel to the real world themselves.
• Finish Him!: The crowd shouts this at Sol in regards to killing Scarlet in the Valdorian Mage Trials. Obviously, he does not fulfill the crowd's wishes since Scarlet is his sister.
• Flashback B-Plot: The entirety of Timecrest 3: Luthor is this. Subverted in the Altered Past route since the Player directly changes the past through the flashback, thereby making it the Player's present.
• The Gadfly: On numerous occasions, Fulgur appears just to torment Luthor or provoke him.
• Genuine Human Hide: Fulgur has surgically attached a wide stretch of skin onto his own arm so that he could have the Valdorian Tattoo. This essentially functions as an arm sleeve which Fulgur uses to torment Luthor.
• Giftedly Bad: In the Unaltered Past route, it's revealed that Ash's only skill is using a spell that allows him to do minor artistry abilities; most of which can be done without the use of magic.
• Gladiator Games: The Valdorian Mage Trial that Luthor participates in is like this. The participants are encouraged to kill one another to obtain a flag that moves them onto the next round of the trial.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • In the Valdorian Mage Trials, Luthor breaks Sol's and Scarlet's legs in order to debilitate them out of attacking. Despite having their legs broken, Sol is able to not only stand but also walk a sizeable distance before being knocked down, while Scarlet is still able to kill the remaining competitors besides Luthor and Sol ^note  and Morca if saved by Luthor from the ground.
  • Scarlet is completely blind but uses her magic in order to sense her surroundings. In the Altered Past route, it's revealed that she can manage her own by defeating a ruby dragon by herself. In many ways, she is more powerful than Sol seeing as she is capable of defeating the aforementioned ruby dragon, and an additional 22 sandworms; all of which were done by herself.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • In the Valdorian Mage Trials, Model 1 sacrifices himself in order to save Luthor from Scarlet by showing off the human technology implanted into him.
  • Also in the Valdorian Mage Trials, Trisdan sacrifices himself in order to save Emelia.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: After absorbing Emelia's wounds, Trisdan begins to express his fear of dying and begins to cry before he dies outright.
• I Have a Family: Before leaving his fellow guildmasters to presumably die to a dragon, Guildmaster Newman blurts this out.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Inverted and downplayed. The Player accidentally gives away their masquerade of being the Time Manipulator when they fail to mention that Luthor's dad is not a Timecrest. By forgetting a detail that they should have known as the Time Manipulator, Luthor is able to figure out the Player's lie.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Luthor wears one of these whenever he's in his lab.
• Mad Doctor: Fulgur definitely is one. In fact, he created the Valdorian Disease and is willing to take the fall for it despite being told to spread it by King Janus.
• Masquerade: Oddly enough, the Player can adopt the false identity of the Time Manipulator before Luthor finds out that they're lying.
• Morton's Fork: Alvin forces Luthor to choose between killing his parents or inadvertently killing Ash by reliving the same past. The Player can alter this choice in the Altered Past route, although another fork is formed in response. This time, the choices are Luthor killing his parents, or Luthor choosing to no longer be a Timecrest.
• Noble Demon: While his end goal is to get Ezra to return to him (which will destroy Alyncia by proxy), Alvin doesn't force any Timecrests to follow his orders. In fact, he allows Luthor to live out his life in the Unaltered Past route completely without his influence. He also tries to encourage Luthor to not join him several times. In doing so, Alvin makes it very clear that his plans are only going to be set in motion of Luthor's own accord; although that's not entirely true.
• The Man Behind the Man: While the game leads you to believe that Chronos is the mastermind behind all events in the game, Alvin is the true mastermind. Alvin set up most of the underlying conflicts of the game including forcing Luthor's parents to be killed, having Luthor destroy Valdor to intimidate him, forcing the conflict between Ezra and Luthor to occur causing Luthor to freeze and then destroy the meteors, and finally manipulating Ignis into joining him by raising Scarlet from the dead. All of this is done in order to get Ezra to come back to him. By proxy, their actions also caused Ash and Elise to become orphans, for A.C. to lose his memories, and for the Player to meet Ash.
• Robot Buddy: Model 1 is one that Luthor made to help him in inventing various objects.
• Rubber-Band History: While the Player can directly interact with the past, they still are confined to specific moments that occurred in their memories. History also is most likely to repeat itself regardless of what you say to Luthor (although the fate of Morca is a notable exception). Completely subverted in the Altered Past route considering the Player directly changes the past in it. Yet, this is partially double serverted in that Luthor will still agree to Alvin's deal in that route as he did in the original past. However, the new memories gained by Luthor, Alvin, and Scarlet prove the rubber-banding is still in partial effect.
• Sand Worm: Scarlet and Sol fight against many of these in the Altered Past route in the desert of Windsorhowl.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When being attacked by the ruby dragon at the Sunclaire Guild, Guildmaster Newman abandons his fellow guildmasters and leaves them to succumb to the dragon's flames before Scarlet steps in.
• Secret Test:
  • Sol posed one to Rita when they were dating by breaking up with her. In order to pass the test, Rita needed to pine for Sol and get back together with him. This ultimately backfired and the two remained apart.
  • Sol pretends to be dead for months in the Altered Past route in order to test Scarlet's loyalty to him. She is unaware he does this and ultimately ends up failing the test.
• The Smart Guy: Luthor is considered one by the denizens of Valdor, and is also placed under watch by the royal guard of Valdor because of this.
• Take a Third Option: The entirety of the Altered Past route is this. The Player can force this to happen by choosing Scarlet in Chapter 13 instead of Riley.
• Teen Genius: Luthor is one. He's oftentimes called "The Prodigy" (despite not actually being a child prodigy) and is a well-accomplished inventor in his own right.
• Time Skip: During both the Unaltered Past and Altered Past routes, time skips are utilized. In the Unaltered Past route, these time skips are found more often towards the end of the route while the Altered Past route features more of them near the beginning of the route.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Trisdan and Emelia appear in Chapter 12 and briefly help out Luthor in the Valdorian Mage Trials. They both die shortly afterward due to Trisdan absorbing Emelia's wounds, and Emelia getting all heat absorbed from her by Scarlet.
• Wham Line: Delivered by Ash at the end of Chapter 15:

  Ash: But how can I forget you when... When my brother... When Luthor Timecrest has always been a part of me!