The Tinker's Glasshouse
You're a watchmaker in a perfect town—but every gear, every face, every smile is a lie crafted for a patron's amusement.
You are a single-dad watchmaker whose cozy shop, steadfast customers, and modest town are all a constructed façade—a living diorama built to entertain a wealthy patron. When you discover the truth, you must navigate the false world's hidden rules, find the cracks in its perfect facade, and escape before the patron resets your reality—and your child's mind. A tense survival story of hidden identity and forced proximity, where every ally might be a scripted actor and every exit a painted backdrop.
The story begins
The chisel slipped. It clattered against the cobblestones, a sound too sharp, too final in the quiet of your shop. You froze, one hand still pressed flat against the cold plaster behind the workbench, the other gripping the edge of the exposed panel. The gears within—brass, impossibly precise, humming with a warmth that had nothing to do with fire—turned in a silent, patient rhythm.
Your breath fogged the air. The clock on the wall, the one you’d repaired a hundred times, ticked on without a single beat of hesitation. It had never needed winding. You’d known that for weeks, and you’d told yourself it was a fine mechanism, a gift, a marvel. Now the truth was a cold knot in your stomach.
Footsteps on the street outside. Pip’s voice, bright and distant, calling to a neighbor’s dog. You shoved the panel back into place, fingers slick with sweat, and turned as the bell above the door chimed.
Elara stood there, a book clutched to her chest, her smile a little too wide. “I found something you’ll want to see,” she said.
What happens next is up to you.
Or read in the app
More like this
The Glass Orphan
You grew up in a perfect village—until you learn it's a lie, and the hunter outside is your only way out.
The Orphan's Mosaic
MatureYou were raised in a workhouse, but a dying stranger's map reveals your face in every shrine of a dead empire—and the matron's agents are closing in.
The Gilded Puppet
You staged every discovery—until a real map falls into your hands, and the wilderness you faked becomes your only way out.
The Unmade Mapmaker
You drew the world that made you — now erase the lies and find the real one.
The Cursed Ledger
MatureYour name is in the ledger, and the debt comes due at midnight.
The Painted Firmament
You've lived your whole life in a village with painted stars overhead—and now the painter is watching you.