The Last Clockmaker's Apprentice

Panel 1

(thinking) The thing about time, Master Aldric always said, is that it doesn't care about your plans.

Panel 2

(thinking) I understood what he meant the night I watched him die.

Panel 4

(thinking) My name is Iris Blackwood, and I'm a clockmaker's apprentice. Or I was, anyway.

Panel 3

(thinking) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind..

Panel 5

(thinking) At sixteen, I'd spent the last four years learning the trade from Aldric Thorne, the last independent clockmaker in Cogsworth.

Panel 6

While the Chronos Guild tightened their brass-knuckled grip on every timepiece in the city, Master Aldric quietly repaired pocket watches and wall clocks in his cramped workshop, staying just invisible enough to avoid their attention.